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Dassault Aviation's joint venture with Reliance represents around 10 percent of the offset investments under the Rafale jet deal, Dassault CEO Eric Trappier has said.
"We're in talks with about 100 Indian firms, including around 30 with which we've already confirmed partnerships," Trappier told AFP.
Separately on Thursday, 11 October, speaking at a briefing in Paris, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reiterated the government's claim that it had no idea that Dassault Aviation would team up with Reliance Group, run by Anil Ambani.
Several reports say Dassault was forced to choose Reliance by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, despite the latter having almost no experience in the aviation sector. On the eve of Sitharaman's visit, French investigative website Mediapart quoted the notes of a meeting between Dassault management and workers' representatives, which described the choice of Reliance as "imperative and compulsory".
In a statement, Dassault released a transcript of what it said was Trappier's interview with AFP in which he was asked about the status of the offsets.
"Signing an offset contract is a requirement of Indian law (Defence Procurement Procedure). The implementation of offsets is an obligation and, under the Indian regulation, the choice of the partners belongs to us,” Trappier was quoted as saying.
He said what is called “offset” in English is usually translated into French as “compensation” or “contrepartie”. With regard to the staff and trades union organisations, Dassault Aviation uses the term “obligation contractuelle d'offset” or “obligation contractuelle de compensation”, he said.
Dassault negotiated for years with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the order, with the jets being jointly built in India.
But those talks were cancelled after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office, when he decided to purchase the jets directly from France.
Asked why Dassault chose Reliance over HAL as its partner, Trappier said Dassault Aviation decided to establish a long-term presence in India through DRAL, a joint enterprise in which governance is provided by an Indian Chief Executive Officer and a French Chief Operating Officer.
Dassault on Wednesday had said it had "freely chosen" to form a joint venture with Reliance. But that stance was contradicted recently by former French president Francois Hollande, under whose watch the Rafale deal was signed.
Hollande said last month that France had "no choice" but to join with Reliance after it was pushed by the Indian government – comments which were seized upon by Indian Ppposition parties.
Under Indian defence procurement rules, foreign companies winning contracts must "offset" or reinvest half the total value – in this case around eight billion euros – in joint ventures or purchases with Indian firms.
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