NEW DELHI: India signed a formal agreement Friday to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France's Dassault for a reported 7.9 billion euros ($8.8 billion), one of its biggest defence deals in decades.

India's Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his French counterpart  Jean-Yves Le Drian signed the agreement at a ceremony in New Delhi after years of tortuous negotiations between the two countries. -AFP