“Umm, if the Indian government does run on bribes, how is it that the US has become the biggest arms supplier to India in the past couple of years?”
I am aware of those contracts. The Indian government has cracked down on the bribe culture. A few years ago a couple of Indian Air Force officers solicited bribes in exchange for better placement at an air show. They were punished. I don’t have a personal take on the bribe situation as I proposed Indian business but never actually worked with their (I’ve heard) Byzantine procurement process. (Note the problems they’ve had with the new fighter solicitation, which is years behind schedule. I think they’ve down-selected and then un-selected at least twice.)
Bribery isn’t going to go away anytime soon. If anything, the new checks-and-balances instituted over the past two decades have slowed down defense procurement significantly.
The Indian fighter procurement has had only one down-select: the Rafale and negotiations continue. The rest are rumours floated by the usual suspects.