HOW RAFALE ROW SNOWBALLED

June 2001: An in-principle approval was granted for procurement of 126 fighter-jets.

2002: Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) was formulated for the first time.

June 2006: An ‘offset clause’ was included in the DPP to promote indigenisation.

June 29, 2007: The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved the procurement of 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircrafts (MMRCA). Eighteen were supposed to in direct fly-away aircrafts and the remaining 108 were to be made by HAL within 11 years from the date of signing.

Aug. 2007: The bidding process commences.

April 2008: Six vendors submitted proposals. Nov. 2011: The commercial bids were opened Jan. 2012: Dassault Aviation was found to be the lowest bidder.

Mar. 2015: The Centre decides to drop its plan to buy 126 jets.

April 10, 2015: The Centre decides to buy 36 Rafale jets in fly-away condition through an Inter-governmental Agreement (IGA) and the same was duly approved by the DAC.

June 2015: The bid for 126 jobs was formally dropped.

Sept. 23, 2016: The contract for 36 Jets signed.

September 2018: Former French president Francois Hollande claims that the French government had no choice in the matter of selection of offset partners and Reliance was suggested by Indian officials.