India orders for 3 Russian frigates

"A contract for building three frigates for the Indian navy was signed on Tuesday in Delhi in the presence of representatives" of the Russian arms export agency Rosoboronexport and the Yantar shipbuilding factory of Kaliningrad, the source said.

"The overall value of the contract is in the area of 1.6 billion dollars," with delivery planned in 2010-2011, the source told the news agency.

Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee had already announced details of the frigate purchase, but quoted a cost equal to 1.1 billion dollars.

Indian defence ministry sources told AFP earlier that an additional 88 million dollars was to be spent on arming the three new ships with BraHmos cruise missiles built jointly by Russia and India.

Other military equipment was also due to be bought from Russia, which accounts for 70 percent of India's military hardware.

The signing follows a visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Saint Petersburg last weekend to attend a summit of the G8 (Group of Eight) industrialised countries.