NEW DELHI—India has officially barredFinmeccanica from bidding on its future weapons-supply deals but has allowed the Italian defense major to continue with its existing contracts.
In 2012, the Indian defense ministry put on hold all ongoing and prospective deals with the Finmeccanica Group after its U.K. subsidiaryAgustaWestland allegedly breached a pre-contract integrity pact concerning the now-canceled purchase of 12 VVIP transport helicopters for the Indian air force (IAF).
In an Aug. 26 directive, the ministry states that Finmeccanica companies should be eliminated from all acquisition projects in which tendering has yet to commence, provided there are valid alternatives.
This will prevent Finmeccanica’s aerospace arm, Alenia Aeromacchi, from bidding for the $2.5 billion tender to partner with a private Indian company on the production of 56 transport aircraft. Alenia Aeromacchi had even suggested opening an assembly line in the country if its C-27J aircraft was selected to replace the aging Avro-748.
However, according to official and company sources, the policy will not affect the bid for 16 naval multi-role helicopters (MRH), in which the European NH90 is competing with the Sikorsky S-70B . India plans to increase the order to 123 helicopters, at a cost of over $3 billion.