Table of Contents
RAFALE DEAL CONTROVERSY
The Rafale deal controversy is a political controversy in India related to the purchase of 36 multirole fighter aircraft for a price estimated at €7.8 billion (₹58,891 crore) by the Defence Ministry of India from France’s Dassault Aviation.
CAG
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India is an authority, established by Article 148 of the Constitution of India, which audits all receipts and expenditure of the Government of India and the state governments, including those of bodies and authorities substantially financed by the government.
CAG REPORT
The report finds the Rafale deal negotiated by the Narendra Modi government in 2016 to be cheaper than the one that was being discussed during the UPA regime but said that India paid for some of the India-specific enhancements that were “not needed” by the Indian Air Force.
FROM CAG REPORT THE CAG REPORT
The defence ministry has been arguing that the 2016 contracted price of 36 basic flyaway Rafale aircraft was 9 per cent lower than the 2007 price. However, the CAG audit report found that the basic flyaway aircrafts were bought at the same price as that of 2007. However, the CAG report highlighted, the 2007 offer by Dassault Aviation provided performance and financial guarantees There was no such guarantee or warranty in the 2016 contract. The auditor observes that this led to a saving for Dassault Aviation that was not passed on to the Indian government.
WAS THE DELIVERY FAST?
- On terms of faster delivery, the CAG gives the government little credit for shaving off just one month in the delivery time for the jets that were bought for urgent requirements.
WHAT ABOUT OFFSETS?
The CAG report did not look into the offsets yet as those are to be submitted to the government by Dassault only in October this year.
WILL PRICES BE MADE PUBLIC?
The BJP-headed NDA government’s decision to not reveal the price of the 36 Rafale fighter jets it agreed to buy from French company Dassault on the grounds of security invited a lot of criticism from the opposition parties. Interestingly, the Congress-led UPA government too had signed a deal to hide the price of the jets. This has been revealed by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report tabled in Parliament today.
WILL PRICES BE MADE PUBLIC?
“The Ministry of Defence vide its letter dated 15 January 2019 had requested this Office to redact commercial details of MMRCA in the Audit Report, citing reference to Article 10 of the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for acquisition of 36 Rafale Aircraft and the provisions of an Indo French Agreement “concerning the Protection of Classified Information and Material in the field of Defence” signed on 25 January 2008,” says the report.
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