Changes made to the Defence Procurement Policy in April 2016 allowed suppliers of the Rafale fighter jets not to declare any offset partner when India and France signed a deal in September that year to buy 36 aircraft.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, in its Report No. 20 of 2019 which was tabled in Parliament last week, said changes in the offset policy introduced by the government in 2015 were “duly incorporated” with effect from April 1, 2016.
This policy change meant that in the case of the Rafale deal, the foreign vendor…