Clearing the air on the Rafale deal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that the present NDA government has negotiated hard to keep prices down by at least 20 per cent for each aircraft as per 2016 deal, compared to that of the UPA in 2007.


In an exclusive interview to ANI, Jaitley underlined the fact that each of these aircraft were coming fully loaded and the deal is between government to government without involving anyone in between.


"Can you compare a basic aircraft's pricing with a loaded aircraft? Can you compare a simple aircraft with a weaponised aircraft?... If in 2012 they had come to an agreement, the first would have been delivered in 2017. From 2007 to 2017 the escalations would have gone up, along with a foreign exchange variation. So there is India specific add-ons and the foreign exchange variants' Is the Congress party aware that if you take the 2007 L1 offer and the escalation clause without the add-ons, the price negotiated in 2015-16 is cheaper?' Jaitley said.


"Let us first come to the pricing. My question therefore is, if you are fully aware -- Mr Anthony fully read the file and abandoned the contract -- he would tell his party that the L1 offer of 2007 had a basic 2007 price plus escalation plus currency variation. In 2015 or 16, this would have been 9 per cent costlier than what the basic aircraft price of 2016 negotiated was' Loaded to unloaded, you compare the price again. The 2016 price is 20 per cent  cheaper than the 2007 offer. So we got it cheaper,' Jaitley asserted.


"What was negotiated from 2015 to 2016 and finally executed in 2016, with the escalations and the currency variations, the basic aircraft price turns out to be 9 per cent cheaper. Is the Congress party aware of this?' he addedSlamming Congress president Rahul Gandhi's charge of a more expensive final Rafale jet being purchased by the present government, Jaitley said that every fact by the Congress is factually false.


"Every fact that they have said on pricing is factually false... Mr Rahul Gandhi himself has given seven different prices in different speeches with regard to the Rafale, that is the 2007 offer. And the simple case is they have made it as if it is a kindergarten or primary school debate," Jaitley said.


The Finance Minister asserted that no rules were bypassed and the Cabinet Committee on Security approval was taken during the deal and the negotiations took about 14 months to complete.