India hopes to seal fighter jet deal by March 2012

India's contract process to buy 126 fighter jets valued at about $11 billion is "going smoothly" and is expected to be completed in the fiscal year ending March 2012, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said on Wednesday.

Saab's JAS-39 Gripen is competing with Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet, Dassault's Rafale, Lockheed Martin Corp's F-16 and Russia's MiG-35 to win a contract from India for the fighter jets.

Cassidian, the recently renamed defence arm of EADS and a partner in the Eurofighter Typhoon, is also vying for the Indian fighter award. Eurofighter is a four-nation consortium of EADS, representing Germany and Spain, Britain's BAE Systems and Italy's Finmeccanica .