The IAF needs hundreds of them. The LCA would carry the same weapons payload as the Mig-29 though it is much smaller than the fulcrum .It is expected that LCA with a poweful engine close to 100KN of output thrust and an AESA radar would be more than a match for the newly introduced Chinese fighters like the J-10 & the JF-17. The LCA would be an ideal platform for the twin engined MCA to be launched in the coming decade.

Inducting the LCA into the IAF in 2010 is commendable but is HAL capable of producing the Tejas (hopefully a fully operational Mk2 version) in big numbers if the Mig-21s are to be phased out.
Hal has too many projects and it can't even meet development and production targets because it is stretched too thin. Unless the GOI is willng to bring in private enterprises such as TATA and L&T, the IAF would not have their sanctioned strength of nearly 40 squadrons of fighters.
The Chinese are way ahead in the production of the J-10 and other fighters and it might take decades to even catch up with their present strength at the rate fighters are inducted into the IAF.
The GOI has developed a penchant for asking foreign defence majors to tender for fighters and helicopters and other military hardwares but when they receive the RFPs from interested vendors, the babus in control sit back and wait to see which of the vendors would give the biggest kickbacks. They don't mind waiting until the cows come home but their kickbacks offer has to be right.
The 126 MRCA programme would take another decade to fruition if not later. If another coalition comes to power, then there will be another round of negotiations to get their kickbacks as well. This type of procurement process takes an awefully long time and foreign vendors might just give up doing business with India. At best we can expect what the Russians and the French (the Scorpeone subs) are doing: escalation of price or the refusal of TOT after the deals are agreed upon.
Can't the Indian bureaucratic machinery be made to function more efficiently without the need to oil (bribe) every minion in its labyrinth to make things move faster?