https://www.sps-aviation.com/story/?id=1618

"...journey of the Tejas began in August 1983 when the project for the development of an LCA was initiated by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) supported by the government with sanction of Rs. 560 crore initially...."

It was supposed to be of the same vintage of murika F-16 (...sure a smaller plane)...But the hindus basically lacked the pre-requisite to start such a project so they asked the french to design for them...yes, it was called 'as consultants'

"...1987[edit]

• Project definition commenced in October 1987 with French Dassault-Breguet Aviation as consultants.^[1] Dassault-Breguet were to assist in the design and systems integration of the aircraft, with 30 top-flight engineers reported to have flown to India to act as technical advisers to IADA, in exchange for $100m.^[2][3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_HAL_Tejas

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So far, I read about 40 were built, no so sure about the number deployed/in-service

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In contrast, the chinese J-10 project started in 1985...then china already had the experience with J-8 and Jh-7.....Several 100s of J10s hve been built since 2003.. and a few 10s have been exported to Pakistan