Rafale deal faces turbulent weather

Sitharaman insisted the PM had followed due process, with the purchase of the Rafales having been cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security

Prime Minister Narendra Modi — on April 10, 2015, in Paris — stunned the global military aerospace industry with the announcement that India would buy 36 Rafale fighters in a government-to-government arrangement with France, effectively ending an eight-year global procurement process for 126 fighters. There is controversy, too, over how the deal was announced — by the PM himself, during a state visit to France — without clearances from his Cabinet or defence ministry.

That announcement resulted in a € 7.8 billion (Rs 58,000 crore) contract for 36 Rafale fighters, signed in June 2016. It has led to charges of corruption