Come Friday.. which is expected to have the better offer??
Nobody can tell you that, because not the price alone will be important, but the offer as a whole! It is expected that the Rafale is cheaper per unit and to operate, so might be L1 in this field, but that doesn't meant their offer is the best. If the EF consortium offers much ToT, industrial and political advantages to counter the higher costs, their total offer could turn out to be more worth it and since MMRCA is not a normal fighter replacement, it will be the best package that makes the difference!
that only time will tell and let tell u if this deals go we will see the largest no. of fighters sold in the next decade to be EFT and yes what u said implies for Rafael as well at least EFT has been bought by some and KSA plans to buy more but poor Rafael being such a capable fighter has not found a buyer yet statement apart don't say Brazil will buy it only time will tell ironic isn't it both have to win i guess more desperate situation for Rafael it seems ...........
We don't need time to understand how desperate the EF consortium is, just look at the current situation of the fighter, the further developments and the orders of the EF partners and the situation is more than clear!
EF is clearly less capable than the Rafale, because the EF partners don't commit themselfs to upgrade it, like France does. They simply haven't the money to do it now, because of the financial crisis and big defence budget cuts, not to mention that they have other commitments like the F35 and are switching to UAV developments at the moment, which makes follow orders of EF not needed.
All this makes clear why they are badly searching not only for a normal export order, but for a new partner country, that could take over some of the fundings to upgrade EF and make it more useful or interesting for other export customers. That's why they extended the productionline for 2 more years, with the hope that India, or Japan would join.
Dassault on the other hand can be pretty cool at the moment! France is constantly funding further developments and ordering more fighters, with the productionline to be busy beyond 2020 only for the French orders.
UAE is close to be the first export customer, with 60 fighters and it's not a competition, but a single fighter evaluation, which makes it much easier.
Swiss evaluated all 3 Eurocanards and found out that Rafale is the best fighter, is cheaper than EF per unit and to operate + offers good side advantages. Since they currently have an advantage of their currency over the EURO, they even pushing forward to a decision as soon as possible and a deal for up to 22 Rafales is in sight as well.
In Brazil the former President and Defence minister, as well as the current officials openly stated that the Rafale is the prefered fighter, with the only problem that it is also the most expensive in that competition and Brazil is cutting the defence budget as well.
So these prospects alone makes clear, that Dassault is not as desperate as the EF consortium, because even if they have no export customer yet, the future looks way, way brighter for them than for he EF at the moment!
For India that means, choosing Rafale means choosing the best suiting fighter for IAF (and IN), the cheapest option and the one with the better future potential, all they now have to offer to seal the deal is a good industrial package!