CAG flags pending defence offset deals: Dassault, Boeing, Russian ROE in list

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has criticised the Defence Ministry’s offset policy, introduced in 2005, stating that it has brought “negligible Foreign Direct Investment”, and that the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) “has not acquired any high technology so far”.

In its report for 2019, tabled in Parliament on September 23, the CAG noted that it found that “in many cases vendors make offset commitments in order to get the main contract. But later they are not earnest about fulfilling these commitments and raised new issues which delayed offset implementation.”

It has listed cases of a deal to buy 80 helicopters from Russian Rosoboronexport (ROE), 36 Rafale fighter jets from France’s Dassault Aviation, and a contract with US giant Boeing to buy 10 military transport C-17 III aircraft.