Dassault Aviation has said that the company's joint venture with Reliance in Nagpur represents only about 10 per cent of the offset obligations in the deal to purchase 36 fighter jets from France and it is in negotiations with about a hundred Indian companies to meet the requirements under the Defence Procurement Procedure of the Indian government.
"In full compliance with this regulation, Dassault Aviation decided to set up the DRAL joint venture with Reliance and build a plant in Nagpur, which should enable us to meet about 10 per cent of these offset obligations. We are in negotiations with about a hundred Indian companies and partnerships have already been concluded with about thirty of them," CEO Eric Trappier said.
The Congress has been alleging irregularities in the deal signed by the Narendra Modi government to purchase Rafale fighter jets, saying that it had caused a loss of Rs 41,000 crore to the exchequer compared to the deal negotiated by the previous UPA government and that the Dassault was forced to choose Reliance as its Indian partner for the offset contract.