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FT interview: Palaniappan Chidambaram, India’s finance minister | beyondbrics
Barber: A couple of [other] things, if I may. The competition between Rafale and Eurofighter is something which has attracted a lot of interest here. Can India press ahead with the very expensive purchase of Rafale and, at the same time, press ahead with your deficit reduction programme, because it is a very expensive purchase indeed. Are you fully committed to it?
Chidambaram: Rafale was selected after a transparent bidding and evaluation procedure. Now, it’s well within the right of the competitor to say that Rafale is too expensive, that the other product is more competitive and better priced, but how can I second guess a transparent procedure, a transparent bidding and evaluation procedure, which finally threw up the results that Rafale will be selected? We have had the defence experts in this. We have had the air force involved in it. We’ve had civilian analysts involved in the process. And how can we find fault with the conclusion? If they find that Rafale at that price is the best product, it is the best product. …