Dassault aviation clarifies; Says Indian govt had no hand in choosing partners

Updated: Saturday, September 22, 2018, 11:28 [IST]

New Delhi, Sep 22: Just hours after the French government contradicted its former president Francois Hollande's claim that Modi's government chose Reliance defence as its industrial partner, the Dassault aviation, the manufacturing company of the Rafale planes has clarified that it was the company who could choose the partners and not the government.

Dassault Aviation' Clarification:

Dassault Aviation provides the following clarifications regarding the contract signed in 2016 for 36 Rafale aircraft to India:

1. This contract is a government-to-government agreement. It provides for a separate contract in which Dassault Aviation commits to make compensation investments (offsets) in India worth 50% of the value of the purchase.

2. This offsets contract is delivered in compliance with the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016 regulations. In this framework, and in accordance with the policy of Make in India, Dassault Aviation has decided to make a partnership with India's Reliance Group. This is Dassault Aviation's choice, as CEO Eric Trappier had explained in an interview published in MINT newspaper on April 17, 2018. This partnership has led to the creation of the Dassault Reliance Aerospace Ltd (DRAL) joint-venture in February 2017. Dassault Aviation and Reliance have built a plant in Nagpur for manufacturing parts for Falcon and Rafale aircraft. The Nagpur site was chosen because of the availability of land with direct access to an airport runway, an essential condition of aeronautic activities.

3. Other partnerships have been signed with other companies such as BTSL, DEFSYS, Kinetic, Mahindra, Maini, SAMTEL,... Other negotiations are ongoing with a hundred-odd other potential partners.

4. Dassault Aviation is very proud that the Indian authorities have selected the Rafale fighter.

The statement by the French government came following a French media report which quoted former French President Francois Hollande as saying that the Indian government proposed Reliance Defence as the partner for Dassault Aviation in the Rs 58,000 crore Rafale deal and France did not have a choice.