Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday (30 July) informed the Upper House that the Centre has withdrawn the multi-billion dollar tender for the 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), for which Rafale was shortlisted in 2012. "The Request for Proposal (RFP) issued earlier for the procurement of 126 MMRCA has been withdrawn. In the multi-vendor procurement case, the Rafale aircraft met all the performance characteristics stipulated in the RFP during the evaluation conducted by the Indian Air Force," Parrikar said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha. The move comes just months after the Defence Minister indicated that the over USD 20 billion MMRCA tender has virtually been scrapped after the government decided to purchase 36 Rafales under a government-to-government contract. The talks for the 36 Rafales have already commenced, the Minister said. Defence sources said that a letter was sent out to the six vendors shortlisted for the RFP, which was then the biggest aviation contract globally.
30/07/15 PTI/BusinessWorld
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30/07/15 PTI/BusinessWorld
