Indian Navy's Sikorsky Chopper Procurement Rebooted

Indian navy's procurement of the 16 multi-role naval helicopters from Sikorsky could be delayed following a restart of negotiations with the US company.

The negotiations have restarted after the American company demanded for a price escalation to which the Indian MOD had refused, defence minister Manohar Parrikar told Indian parliament on Friday.

In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the procurement proposal for the helicopters is being processed in accordance with the Defence Procurement procedure.

Further, the request for price escalation was not found acceptable by the Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC). "The vendor has been informed accordingly," he said.

Defence officials said that fresh rounds of negotiations have started and it has been made clear that the price cannot be escalated.