Performance reports paint grim picture of HAL work

NEW DELHI: A series of reports by parliamentary standing committees and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on the performance of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(hal) paint a grim picture of the state-owned military planemaker on several fronts, documents reviewed by HT show.

HAL’S capabilities have come under the glare of public attention because of the controversy around the ₹59,000-crore Rafale fighter jet purchase and Dassault Aviation of France choosing Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group rather than HAL to implement a part of its offset obligations.

In an interview with HT last month, recently retired HAL chairman and key Rafale negotiator T Suvarna Raju said the company could have built the fighter jets in India had the government managed to close the original negotiations with Dassault Aviation for 126 warplanes, triggering a fresh debate over the deal.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s deci- sion to enter a government-togovernment deal with France to buy 36 Rafale warplanes in a flyaway condition was announced in April 2015 with the deal signed a little over a year later. This replaced the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime’s decision to buy 126 Rafale aircraft, 108 of which were to be made in India by HAL using parts imported from France.

The Congress party has attacked the government for allegedly overlooking the interests of HAL and alleged that it was done to provide Ambani the opportunity for an offset deal, under which foreign military suppliers are required to source components worth a certain portion of the contract value locally.

HAL’S CAPABILITIES HAVE COME UNDER

THE GLARE OF PUBLIC ATTENTION BECAUSE OF THE CONTROVERSY OVER THE ₹59,000CR RAFALE CONTRACT