India Signs Pact To Buy 36 Rafale Fighter Jets From France

But Hollande and his host, Narendra Modi, both said further talks were needed to finalize terms of the government-to-government deal, which the Indian prime minister had announced when he visited France last spring.

Last year’s anniversary parade had seen US President Barack Obama as its foreign guest of honor.

During their extensive talks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting French President Francois Hollande asked for decisive actions to be taken against Lashkar-e-Tayibba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), Haqqani Network and other terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda.

The French president, who had arrived in India on Sunday on a three-day tour, will wrap up his visit and leave for Paris later in the day. However, the crucial issue of pricing is yet to be resolved with the French president, indicating that this will be sorted out in a “few days”.

While a deal with the purchase of the French-made Rafale medium, multi-role fighter aircraft in flyaway condition could not be clinched on account of continuing price negotiations, this is now deemed a mere formality.

The original deal, at an estimated cost of $20 billion, was for delivery of 126 fighters, including 18 off-the-shelf by Dassault, and 108 to be manufactured in India under licensed production by the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) over time, with 50 percent offset obligations to benefit the domestic aerospace industry.

It was the fifth time a French president has been chief guest, the biggest honour India can bestow on a foreign leader. Citing the recent terror strikes around the world the two leaders appealed the world community to work coherently to rout those enemies of the humanity.

Modi and Hollande’s talks will also focus on ways to increase security and intelligence cooperation, driven in part by the attack in Paris by Islamist extremists that claimed 130 lives in November.

France and India underscored the contribution of nuclear energy to their energy security and to the fight against climate change. France has communicated to India that with the level of customisation sought by the Indian Air Force, the aircraft would have to be built from scratch, resulting in longer timelines.

The main aim of the FTA is to reduce or significantly eliminate tariffs on goods, facilitating trade in services and boosting investments between the two sides.

Hollande said that a new Islamic State video which threatens countries of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the terror group would only strengthen France’s resolve to combat terrorism. “They have proven themselves against the ISIS and we are happy to be able to provide them to India”, Mr. Hollande said.

Modi and Hollande rode the New Delhi metro to a site where they laid the cornerstone for the alliance’s headquarters.