A source quoted by the paper says, ”the French company had offered 22% work share for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at the initial stage of negotiations, as its response to the RFP was influenced by a planned partnership with Reliance Industries, that planned to expand into aerospace and defence in 2011.
The newspaper quoted, Air Marshal (retd) M Matheswaran, senior adviser to HAL as saying, “guaranteeing HAL’s work is not the issue, but that the French are being “rigid” and refusing to stand behind the integrity of the design.