Finmeccanica says India exposure limited (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, May 30 - Italian defence and aerospace giant Leonardo-Finmeccanica said Monday that its exposure to the Indian market was limited after the announcement that it is being blacklisted by the Asian State.
    It said that "for years no new orders for India were included in forecasts" and that "the targets announced in the industrial plan are fully confirmed". Leonardo-Finmeccanica also stressed that it has not received official notification from the Indian authorities that it was being blacklisted. The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported Monday that India is to cancel all its orders with Finmeccanica after its AgustaWestland subsidiary allegedly paid kickbacks to secure a secured the 566-million-euro contract to provide 12 helicopters for the Indian Air Force Procedures have begun to place Finmeccanica and its subsidiaries on a blacklist, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told PTI in an interview. Standing contracts with Finmeccanica and its subsidiaries for maintenance and parts for equipment India has purchased in the past will remain valid, the minister added. "New purchases will be halted," Parrikar said. In April this year, a Milan appeals court found former Finmeccanica CEO and president Giuseppe Orsi guilty of corruption and sentenced him to a prison term of four and a half years. Former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini was handed a four-year prison term. Orsi denied wrongdoing, and resigned from the helm of the State-controlled firm in 2013 after being arrested in relation to the probe. Both companies and their former executives have denied wrongdoing.