The French Navy’s vice-chief Vice-Admiral Alain Oudot de Dainville today met Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash on the $1.8 billion Scorpene submarine deal.Top sources said the news brought by the Marine Nationale second-in-command was that France was willing to ‘‘look into the Indian Navy’s concerns on price escalation of the deal’’, though officials at the French Embassy declined comment.An objection to the Scorpene unit price escalations — running into Rs 4,000 crore — during a March Cabinet Committee on Security meeting forestalled what was almost definitely a green light for the contract. The ‘‘in-principle’’ agreement was signed in June last year for six submarines, to be built at the Western dockyards with licensed know-how.Dainville also met Army chief Gen J.J. Singh, an Army official said. He is scheduled to meet Defence Secretary Ajai Vikram Singh and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee over the next three days.Dainville is also understood to have conveyed to government officials that relations could stretch far beyond just six Scorpenes, and proposed discussions this year may bring up other items that the French government would like to offer New Delhi.
