The government today termed as "motivated" and "baseless" the controversy over the Rafale deal and asserted that the fighter jets have been bought at better terms.

Addressing the 90th Annual General Meeting of FICCI, she also said that government will allocate more funds for defence research and development in next budget.

Sitharaman rued rued leaders of the Sonia Gandhi-led party often speak the language of separatists and support those who talk about dividing the nation.

The Defence Ministry said the missile hit a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal from the combat jet. The land and warship versions of the missile have already been inducted into the armed forces.

The Congress party recently raised several questions on the deal including the rates, and charged the government with compromising national interest and security while promoting "crony capitalism" and causing a loss to the public exchequer.

India had inked an inter-governmental agreement with France in September last year for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 58,000 crore.

Yesterday, the Indian Air Force had said that there was "no overpricing" in the Rafale purchase as the government had "negotiated a very good" deal for the French fighter aircraft.

Sitharaman said Pakistan's decision to allow Indian death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav to meet his wife was a "good humanitarian gesture" .

Arunachal Pradesh is Indian territory and the opinion of others on the issue is not a concern for India, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.

China today objected to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's first visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also visited Chabua air base, where she took stock of the operational preparedness and infrastructure development at the base.

Indian Army will help build a new foot overbridge at the Elphinstone Road station in Mumbai, where a deadly stampede killed 23 people last month.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked the officials to ensure timely conclusion of procurement proposals.

PM Modi said defence cooperation is one of the key pillars of the Strategic Partnership between India and France, and called for greater cooperation in defence manufacturing.

Defence operational cooperation, especially in the field of maritime security, joint exercises of the armed forces, were among the issues in focus.

According to a report in Times of India, France is very keen to hard-sell additional Rafale fighter jets to India.

India has been supporting freedom of navigation and access to resources in the South China Sea in accordance with principles of international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

BJP today asked Congress to break "silence" over media reports which claimed that Robert Vadra had "links" with fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

INS Kiltan was designed by the Indian Navy's in-house organisation Directorate of Naval Design and has been built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers in Kolkata.

According to a Navy statement released here today, this is the third of the four Kamorta-class corvettes being built under Project 28.