FIGHT OVER JET FIGHTER?
By Ruma Dubey
Who would have ever imagined that developed countries would be vying for a slice of the juicy pie which is India? For France’s Dassault, the 126 jetfighter, $11 billion deal is being touted as a lifeline and UK, which is miffed because it lost this deal, is now acting like a spoilt child. So what has changed – is it India or is to do with these developed countries? Actually, a mix of both. India is too big a market to be ignored and the kind of revenues which countries could earn is simply huge. And today, developed countries are struggling for survival and the equation is such that Indian deals could help these big powers survive. That is the crux – a complete change in the world equation.
UK is miffed. It was almost a foregone conclusion that India would grant the order to British-built Typhoon fighter in a contract that could be worth $20bn.But India’s choice was an underdog, France’s Rafale jet which till date has not secured a single export order. This choice of France over Britain has reportedly caused political embarrassment to David Cameron, UK prime minister, and Angela Merkel, German chancellor. Cameron is now facing flak from his own party men, for not doing more for British defence companies. And this choice of India for Rafale over Typhoon is now stated to be the reason for the threat from Britain for stopping millions of pounds worth of international aid to India.
Britain currently gives 280 million pounds annually to India, totalling 1.4 billion pounds between now and 2015. Cameron is under intense pressure to slash this aid to India after the Sunday Telegraph reported that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee stated in the Rajya Sabha in August 2011 that India did not need British aid which, according to him, was "peanuts." There is rising public fury that India is a prosperous country and it does not require this international aid.
The question making the rounds is whether this threat of stoppage of aid is a rebuttal for not giving the jetfighter deal to UK. More than trying to find the merit in this question, what emerges is that India is indeed a game changer today. Obama’s visit to India was more about getting big ticket deals, which a super power like USA needed to stay afloat. And apart from France and UK, biggies like Germany, Italy and Spain are vying to get a deal from India. But for the recessionary trends, would these countries have found Indian deals as lucrative?
Undoubtedly, India and China are big game changers. Yes, we today have the money to buy big ticket deals from developed countries which as such, under normal circumstances, would not have acknowledged the growing power of India.
At the same time, what India also needs to hear is the murmur – India, at the last moment could take back the order from Rafale. Given the way in which India has gone back on some key decisions, there is uncertainty about any deal which India makes. And that, for an emerging country like India is not a good thing.