Adm Gorshkov refit price settled for $2.3 billion

New Delhi: Just a week or so after the conclusion of the Indo-Russian summit in Moscow, it is now being suggested that a $2.3 billion final price may have been agreed upon for refurbishing the Adm Gorshkov carrier. This figure has begin doing the rounds after assertions from both countries that the vexatious argument over the pricing of the Adm Gorshkov aircraft carrier's refitting programme has been amicably resolved.

It is also being suggested that India may have asked for some additional equipment to be supplied for the price, and it is suggested that the Russians may have obliged.

India may have also agreed to take delivery of the carrier by 2012 without levying any penalty on the shipyard.

The figure of $2.3 billion takes credence from comments being attributed to unnamed Russian sources that are being quoted as saying that the agreed price was "close to what the Indian Navy wanted".

India has already paid $600 million to the Russians at the time of the contract, and another $122 million in August this year. The Sevmash shipyard, which is performing the repair work on the Gorshkov, has also received $250 million as credit from the Russian government to ensure that work on the carrier did not stop.

Both sides decided to resolve the issue once and for all and this decision was a political one. It is being given to understand that the Russian government asked the shipyard to climb down from its asking price of $2.9 billion, while the Indian side was advised to up its offer from the $2.1 billion on offer to $2.3 billion.