After quite a long time... met the "buzurg" community in my neighborhood... one of them had returned from a seminar recently held in Delhi
He said this... only 2 deals which were knocking our doors since 2010... had they been inked... Feb 2019 would be golden episode.
The deals were of 34x ex-Algerian newly built Mig-29s for $1.7 billion & 2 additional Phalcon awacs for $800 million. (2 sqds would have replaced the Mig-21s at Srinagar & Uttarlai)
In the phalcon case price went up to $1.2 billion with delays & hence the proposal was given up in 2018.
In mig-29 case many airframes got unworthy while in storage & hence IAF cleared only 21 for purchase... still pending!
Failure to spend a $2.5 billion in right thing & at right time led us to a fiasco.