Under the terms of the original Rafale deal[1], HAL was supposed to manufacture/assemble Rafale aircraft in India. This deal never materialized.
A new deal was made under whose terms, Dassault and others were to supply 36 Rafale aircraft in fly-away condition in return to which, they were to invest 50% of the cost of the deal (or about €3.9 billion) back in India, under an offset clause.
Of this €3.9 billion, €100 million was awarded [2] to Dassault Reliance Aviation limited as an offset contract to manufacture components for a passenger aircraft (Dassault Falcon 2000). This was a decision by Dassault, not the Government of India.
There were about 30 offset partners among which Reliance was one. This contract was worth about 3% of the entire investment under the offset clause.
So Reliance was not "chosen over" HAL.
Because the Indian govt. forced Dassault to deal with Ambani. We know this because the French President literally said so.
“We did not have a say in this,” Mediapart quoted Mr Hollande saying. “It was the Indian government that proposed this service group, and Dassault negotiated with Ambani. We did not have a choice. We took the interlocutor that was given to us.”
https://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/india-p...
https://www.ft.com/content/4e95c46c-bdb6-11e8-94b2-17176fbf9...
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/rafale-deal-anil-ambanis-fir...
> The Anil Ambani (who has since declared bankruptcy) company had zero experience in defence or aeronautics
The company that you are talking about came into existence after Anil Ambani got stake in Pipavav Defense who already had experience working with Indian navy[1]. Anil Ambani's company has also signed an agreement with US Navy to repair their seventh fleet vessels[2].
1. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/pipavav-de...
2. https://www.livemint.com/Industry/VZqdl90t3NiQZHl7ccylwK/Rel...
No wonder the Supreme Court threw all these allegations right into the bin.
"Chosen". As in forced to chose by the Indian govt. We know this because the French President literally said so in an interview.
“We did not have a say in this,” Mediapart quoted Mr Hollande saying. “It was the Indian government that proposed this service group, and Dassault negotiated with Ambani. We did not have a choice. We took the interlocutor that was given to us.”
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-natio...
https://www.ft.com/content/4e95c46c-bdb6-11e8-94b2-17176fbf9...
https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/indiatoday/images/bodyedito...
> “We did not have a say in this,”
French government said that there was no pressure on them. In such an important matter, I am more likely to believe the government than a news agency I have never heard of.
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/rafale-deal-france-says-...