Firstly P2Prada -
Let's face the facts. MKI "R&D" cost is about a fraction of the actual development cost of a fighter platform. The Flanker has been in service since the late 1980s, and the Su-30 varants have been in service since mid 1990s. Whatever extra "R&D" India had to pay for was minimal compared to the overall cost. (Uupgradations cost about 20-25% at most and India probably paid for 50% of such R&D at worst, meaning MKI R&D wold be 10-12% of a new plane R&D cost.).
Let's look at Infrastructure. Your posts seem to read like Infra structure is a building and the lights installed in it. But actual "infrastructure" is three folds -
1. Facilities - including factory building, roads, train-tracks, personnel quarters, transportation, electricity etc "hard" systems (which maybe built new for Gripen just as they are for LCA or AMCA).
2. R&D systems, prototype and large scale manufacturing systems, protocols/ procedures/ SOPs/ methids, admin personnel, technical personnel, managerial personnel, HR policies, IT support, parts suppliers etc all "soft systems".
3. Tooling and Machines - designs and knowhows, not to mention the physical entities, all of which are WAY more expensive than all else put together. Let me give you a simple example. Our company does an engineering project for $15 million for 2 years. Of which $5 million is for "hard" infrastructure. Salaries, overhead, IT support etc all "soft" costs are another $2-3 million. All this provides the design for the actual product. The parts and labor to build the first prototype is another $3 million. Most of the tooling and machines were already present in-house, still we spent another $2-3 million in terms of new tools and machines. If we had to buy (commercially available tools), design/ build/ develop (unique tools) all the tools and machines, it would have cost us upwards of $100 million or eight times the value of the project.
Now think of that for SAAB vs HAL/ ADA.
When SAAB designs, develops and builds a new fighter, it will definitely like to reuse (or just use) the available tools and machines present, which means the Gripen is built as much around the customer specs as around SAABs assets and knowhow. Which is why it is so much cheaper.
When HAL/ ADA designs/ develops/ builds LCA, they have no such luxury. Not only are they building the LCA from "scratch" in terms of fighter design experience, they are conceptualizing, designing and manufacturing/ acquiring the tools and machines needed for the LCA from "scratch". So, their requirements would be way more expensive. However, considering the amount of money allocated to the LCA project till date, I am surprised at how much they have achieved with how little.
I think you and most of the LCA haters are smart enough to understand the enormity of the project if you stop to think about this. This is not about just manufacturing a fighter - India has been doing that for quite some time. Firstly from knock down kits, then from pre-designed parts. But most of the tools, machines, methods, knowhow etc needed for the manufacturing came from abroad. Indian aircraft manufacturers were working as grease monkeys.
For the LCA however, we were not only designing and developing the aircraft, but also designing and developing a whole "design/ development" system. We were and still are building our own aircraft manufacturing industry - from scratch. Considering it is a government run enterprise, it sucks in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. But also considering how little money has been invested, it is amazing how far we have come.
As for the LCA, everytime we look at the cost of the aircraft we are aslo looking at the cost of the establishment of the Indian aircraft manufacturing industry. And this "manufacturing" is the real deal - it is not copy/ paste like the Paki JF-17. It is not a knock-down kit assembly like most of Mig-29s and MKIs. It is not even the "ToT" and manufacturing of the MMRCA. This encompasses DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, TOOLING, PROTOTYPING, TESTING, PRODUCTION of a brand new airplane AND the INDUSTRY itself.
By 2020, if LCA is successful, India will be in the elite group of nations who can do all that in-house and produce a jet combat aircraft. Currently, there are only 9 other countries with this capability - USA, Russia, France, Germany, UK, Japan, Italy, China and Sweden.
If you still do not comprehend the utter novelty of it, I would urge you to read the history of automobile manufacturing and ho it was adopted in different countries.