French defence minister in India

France's defence minister yesterday held talks with his Indian counterpart in a fresh attempt to seal a troubled deal to sell 126 Rafale fighter jets.

Jean-Yves Le Drian met his counterpart Manohar Parrikar behind closed doors during a brief visit to New Delhi aimed at preventing the collapse of the sale, which has been snagged for three years and now faces new questions over cost.

France is hoping to salvage the deal ahead of a visit to Paris by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April, but neither side would immediately be drawn on whether any progress was made in Tuesday's talks.

French company Dassault Aviation won the right in January 2012 to enter exclusive negotiations with India to supply 126 Rafale fighters, with experts saying a final deal could be worth $12 billion.

The idea is for Dassault to supply 18 of the twin-engine fighters later this year while the remaining 108 would be made by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd under technology transfer agreements with India.

But negotiations have proved fraught, both under Modi's government and its Congress predecessor, while a committee looking into the deal has reportedly found that it was not the cheapest option.

Le Drian's visit comes a week after France signed an agreement with Egypt for the first foreign sale of its Rafale fighters, which it hopes will prompt others to snap up its premier combat jet.

Paris is also eyeing possible deals with Qatar and Malaysia, although the Rafale has lost out to foreign competitors in South Korea, Singapore, Morocco, Switzerland and Brazil.