India-France Rafale Deal Unlikely to be Announced During Modi's Paris Visit
New Delhi: A landmark defence agreement between India and France for 114 Rafale fighter jets, estimated roughly at $39 billion, is unlikely to be announced when Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels to Paris on June 13, despite the two countries discussing some of the deal's most contentious terms, The Hindu BusinessLine reported.
French diplomatic sources told BL on Thursday that Paris is seriously engaging with New Delhi's demand for access to source codes – a condition that would let India independently integrate its own weapons and systems onto the aircraft. India's insistence that the entire acquisition be routed through the 'Make in India' procurement policy is also under consideration, as per the report by Dalip Singh and Amiti Sen.
As reported by The Wire earlier, at nearly four times the cost of the original Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) proposal, the acquisition envisages 90–94 aircraft being manufactured in India by a strategic partner, with the remainder imported, closely mirroring the original MMRCA framework.
Also read: Why India Keeps Returning to Weapons It Spent Years Rejecting
The 2007 MMRCA competition included 126 fighters for the Indian Air Force (IAF), and stretched over nearly a decade of trials, evaluations and negotiations.
Two aircrafts were shortlisted after evaluating six. In 2012, France’s twin-engine Rafale emerged as the winner. The programme was initially valued at around $10–12 billion, with 108 aircraft slated for indigenous manufacture by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) under a transfer-of-technology arrangement.
Under the current proposal, 90 of the 114 jets are to be built in India, with only 24 arriving ready to fly. This is a departure from India's two previous Rafale contracts – the 36 jets bought for the Indian Air Force in 2016 and 26 naval variants acquired last year – which were manufactured, assembled and tested entirely in France by Dassault Aviation.
India formally issued a Letter of Request last month, seeking a commercial and technical response late May 2026 for 114 Rafale fighters under the Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) programme.
Also read: Rafale Returns? A Decade Later, India is Back to the Same Fighter Deal at Four Times the Price
"Both the French government and French companies are committed to integrating Make in India into our defence deals, including the Rafale," a source told BL.
On the question of local content, defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh has said Dassault offered 40% localisation in early discussions, but the Ministry of Defence is pushing for 50% or higher.
"Unlike the past, the integration of Indian components and weapons will be an inherent part of this contract," French diplomatic sources are quoted as saying by BL.
Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron are scheduled to meet bilaterally in Nice on June 14.
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