New Delhi, August 22: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday informed that Comptroller and Auditor General report on Defence Offset Performance will be tabled in the next session of the Parliament. The Union Minister stated that C&AG Report which was scheduled to be tabled in the Parliament during Budget Session 2020 got delayed due COVID-19.
Informing about the update, Sitharaman took to Twitter and wrote, "The C&AG Report No 20 of 2019...Defence Offset Performance was scheduled to be tabled in the Parliament during the budget session (2020). The session ended, before date, due to COVID. Now the report will be placed in the next session. The contents will be known only after that." FM Nirmala Sitharaman Applauds Income Tax Officials on I-Day 2020, Says 'Responsibilities Have Grown With Faceless Approach for Appeals and Assessments'.
Adding more, she said, "The first Rafale was handed over to India in October 2019. There is a year-wise phasing of how much offset obligation the companies/OEMs have to fulfil. MoD informs me that claims of such obligations being fulfilled are coming in."
Here's what the Union Minister said:
The first Rafale was handed over to India in October 2019. There is a year-wise phasing of how much offset obligation the companies/OEMs have to fulfill. MoD informs me that claims of such obligations being fulfilled are coming in.
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) August 22, 2020
Earlier, reports arrived that the C&AG report has no mention of any offset deals related to Rafale aircraft that will be purchased from French company Dassault Aviation. Also, the TOI reported claimed that Union Ministry of Defence had denied any information related to the Rafale offset deals to the auditor.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 22, 2020 08:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).