“This is by no means the end of the game,” said Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Parners, a London brokerage. “This is only the beginning of the next stage of the competition.”

Eurofighter, meanwhile, made clear Tuesday that it was not ready to concede defeat.

“Based on the Indian government feedback, we will now carefully analyze and evaluate this situation together with our European partners and their respective governments,” said Theodor Benien, a spokesman for Cassidian, the EADS division responsible for the Eurofighter project.

The Indian authorities have said from the start that they would award the contract to the lowest-price bidder. In April, the country narrowed its choices to the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Rafale, ruling out planes by the American manufacturers Boeing and Lockheed Martin and two other contenders from Russia and Sweden. That decision upset officials in Washington, who had expected that at least one of the American companies would make it to the final round.

India already uses French-built Mirage fighter jets, but this order is meant to replace an aging fleet of Russian-made jets. The deal was watched with great interest around the world because it is one of the largest single defense procurements ever. Also, it is seen as an indication of Indian preferences because the country is expected to spend $50 billion to $80 billion on defense equipment in the next five years.

Price has probably become even more of a concern for India since last year, because the government’s fiscal deficit is expected to be much bigger than earlier projected and the rupee fell sharply against the dollar and the euro at the end of last year, though it has recovered some of that lost ground in recent weeks.

Vikas Bajaj contributed reporting from Mumbai.