NEW DELHI – The Indian Defence Ministry has appointed a committee to lookinto the costing of products and military platforms manufactured by defencepublic sector undertakings (DPSU), Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hassaid.

The first project to be reviewed is the indigenous light combat aircraft,Tejas, being manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL).

This development comes after the cost quoted by the HAL turned out to behigher than those of many imported fighters.

Also several platforms manufactured under licence in India have been foundto be more expensive than the imported platforms.

“In general, we have asked a committee to see how the costing of productsmanufactured by the DPSUs is being done,” Ms. Sitharaman told presspersonson Friday. The committee will be chaired by the Director (Costs) in theMinistry.

She said the Indian Air Force (IAF) had come forward requesting that theLCA be the first product to be reviewed by the committee. “We feel there isa need for a review,” she said.

The committee will review all military hardware and systems beingmanufactured by the DPSUs. The report is expected to be submitted within 60days, Ms. Sitharaman said.

The IAF has committed to inducting 123 Tejas jets in variousconfigurations. Of these, 40 have already been ordered and negotiations areunder way for 83 Mk-1A variants featuring specific advancements. However,the HAL has quoted over ₹463 crore for each aircraft, while the advancedtwin-engine Sukhoi-30 assembled in India costs just over ₹400 crore. Thisprice is also a steep rise in comparison to the LCA Mk1 variant for whichthe HAL quoted ₹100 crore.

There have been other instances where licence-manufactured products of theHAL have been costlier than those imported. The Su-30 fighters importedfrom Russia and the advanced jet trainer Hawk from the U.K. are cheaperthan those manufactured by HAL.