Madhavan maintained that HAL was fully capable of producing aircraft in India

Madhvavan, who arrived in Udaipur for a conference of engineers, said that the question of transfer of technology does not arise in the current deal of only 36 aircraft.

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Chairman R Madhavan has claimed that producing only 36 aircraft in India is not feasible, even though he maintained that HAL was fully capable of producing aircraft in India.

Madhavan, who arrived in Udaipur for a conference of Engineers, said that the question of transfer of technology does not arise in the current deal of only 36 aircraft.

"It was necessary to buy them as soon as possible. For the 36 aircraft, the question of production here does not arise. If 126 aircraft were bought, some would have been purchased outright and others produced in the country. The HAL was not part of the process of the current deal," Madhavan said.

The Congress had alleged that the Modi government was buying the military aircraft from French company Dassault Aviation at a much higher price than what was being negotiated by the previous UPA government, which had planned to buy 126 aircraft.

On December 14, the apex court pronounced its verdict that had been reserved on November 14 on a batch of pleas seeking a court-monitored probe into the deal.