The central government has scrapped the Rs 17,000 crore helicopter deal with European aviation consortium, Eurocopter, accusing it of 'deviating from approved parameters' of the choppers urgently required for the army.
"A fresh Request for Proposals will be issued shortly," Defence Ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar said.
Eurocopter and US firm Bell Helicopters were shortlisted for the contract, which visualised purchasing 60 helicopters off the shelf and the rest 137 being manufactured in India under technology transfer.
The cancellation comes at a time when the $4 billion deal was almost at the finalisation stage with defence ministry officials carrying out price negotiation with the France-based