For those who were expecting the deal for 126 multi-role fighter jets, the largest open tender military contract of the present times, here is a huge disappointment. Defence Minister AK Antony today said that while the Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC) has begun negotiating with the French Dassault for the $10.2 billion deal (the conservative estimates stems from the initial budget sanction by the government. The value is likely to escalate to $20billion), the process will still take at least six months. After that there will be eight stages left - four of which lie with the defence ministry. There will be "scrutiny" by Defence Finance and independent monitors of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). Then the deal will go to Finance Ministry, from there to National Security Council (NSC) and Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). This means that the whole process will take at least a year's time.
Antony further added: "We will scrupulously scrutinise the whole process. Nobody can corrupt the Indian system."
One year is also an optimistic assumption, considering there would be no kickbacks...
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