<p>The secret files are related to the Offsets clause in the deal and were found on the roadside in a Delhi locality recently, IAF officials said here, adding that the file has been recovered.<br /><br />"The IAF has ordered a CoI into the loss of the secret file which went missing from the Defence Ministry. The Ministry will order a separate probe into the incident as the file had gone missing from there," Air Vice Marshal M Matheswaran, Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations) told PTI here.<br /><br />The incident comes at a time when the multi-billion dollar deal has entered the critical stage after the IAF carried out extensive flight evaluation trials of the six participating aircraft.<br />The IAF had submitted its report to the Defence Ministry, which has to take a final call on the deal.<br /><br />He said the IAF had ordered the probe under a senior official to find out how the file had gone missing from the Ministry as it belonged to the air force.<br /><br />"The secret file has been recovered and it is in our custody," he added.<br />However, it was not clear as to how and who recovered the file.<br /><br />Under the Offsets clause in the defence production procedure, a foreign vendor bagging any deal worth over Rs 300 crore has to invest back at least 30 per cent of the contract's worth back in Indian defence sector.<br /><br />Under the M-MRCA deal, the offsets were pegged at 50 per cent of the worth of the deal.<br />American F-16 and F/A-18, French Rafale, Swedish Gripen, Russian MiG 35 and European Eurofighter are the six contenders participating the deal for supplying the aircraft to the IAF.</p>
<p>The secret files are related to the Offsets clause in the deal and were found on the roadside in a Delhi locality recently, IAF officials said here, adding that the file has been recovered.<br /><br />"The IAF has ordered a CoI into the loss of the secret file which went missing from the Defence Ministry. The Ministry will order a separate probe into the incident as the file had gone missing from there," Air Vice Marshal M Matheswaran, Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations) told PTI here.<br /><br />The incident comes at a time when the multi-billion dollar deal has entered the critical stage after the IAF carried out extensive flight evaluation trials of the six participating aircraft.<br />The IAF had submitted its report to the Defence Ministry, which has to take a final call on the deal.<br /><br />He said the IAF had ordered the probe under a senior official to find out how the file had gone missing from the Ministry as it belonged to the air force.<br /><br />"The secret file has been recovered and it is in our custody," he added.<br />However, it was not clear as to how and who recovered the file.<br /><br />Under the Offsets clause in the defence production procedure, a foreign vendor bagging any deal worth over Rs 300 crore has to invest back at least 30 per cent of the contract's worth back in Indian defence sector.<br /><br />Under the M-MRCA deal, the offsets were pegged at 50 per cent of the worth of the deal.<br />American F-16 and F/A-18, French Rafale, Swedish Gripen, Russian MiG 35 and European Eurofighter are the six contenders participating the deal for supplying the aircraft to the IAF.</p>