CAG's Rafale report: Key takeaways

1. The 36 Rafale fighter aircraft deal concluded by the BJP-led government is 2.86% cheaper than the deal negotiated by the Congress-led UPA government.

2. CAG report doesn't disclose actual prices (because of national security concerns) but compares the two deals in percentage terms.

3. NDA paid substantially less on India-specific enhancements, that are 17.08% cheaper in the new deal, but paid more on performance-based logistics and engineering support package.

4. For the vendor Dassault Aviation, the 2016 deal is sweeter than its 2007 proposal because in the new deal the French company didn't pay bank guarantee, performance guarantee and warranty.

5. Improvement of one month in the delivery schedule in the 2016 contract.

6. No difference in the basic aircraft cost between the 2007 bid and the negotiated value in 2015 after taking into account the yearly escalation.

7. Savings of 1.05% in the weapon package in the NDA deal.

8. The 2007 offer includes training of 26 pilots and 76 technicians whereas the 2015 offer comes with training of 27 pilots, 146 technicians and two engineers. As a result the training package increases by 2.86%.

9. Indian Negotiating Team (headed by Air Marshal S B P Sinha) has been blamed for “unrealistic price benchmarking”, which is 57% lower than the initial offer of the French team.

10. The July 2014 offer from EADS (for Eurofighter Typhoon) with 20% discount was not accepted by the Defence Ministry as it was an unsolicited offer.