IAF holds back Rs 20,000 crore from HAL, as foreign vendors get paid

With zero cash balance, firm takes Rs 781-crore loan to pay salaries

By the end of this financial year, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will soon owe Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) dues of Rs 20,000 crore, says its Chairman, R Madhavan, including Rs 7,000 crore carried forward from last year.

While the IAF has held back HAL’s payments during this two-year period, it has paid foreign vendors on schedule. MoD sources say Dassault Aerospace has got close to Rs 20,000 crore towards 36 Rafale fighters contracted in September 2016. Smaller sums, in the region of Rs 2,000 crore annually, have been paid to Boeing for contracts signed in 2015 for Apache and Chinook