Rolls-Royce joins Modi’s Atmanirbhar drive with mega India plan

A day after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rolls-Royce CEO Tufan Erginbilgic on Thursday unveiled a strategic roadmap to scale up the company's Indian operations across defence, energy and civil aviation domains including plans to co-develop a aero-engine for India's next-generation combat jets with full intellectual property transfer.

Under the initiative, Rolls Royce is looking at more than doubling the size of its workforce to approximately 10,000 people in India and a 10-fold increase in local supply chain sourcing with a long-term goal to position the country as a global hub for its high-tech manufacturing.

"As we grow our participation in programmes across India's defence, aviation and energy sectors, we will expand our ecosystem in India, as we have done successfully in other countries," Erginbilgic said.

Besides meeting the prime minister, Erginbilgic also held separate talks with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.

"We welcome Rolls-Royce's enthusiasm towards scaling up its activities in India and partnering with our innovative and dynamic youth," Modi said on social media last night.

The leading aero-engine maker has been focusing on making India its third "home market" outside of the UK in line with its strategy to unlock the full potential of opportunities in development of jet engine, naval propulsion, land systems and advanced engineering.

"Our ambitions for India are built on the strong foundations of our decades-long presence in the country, our growing footprint, our deep industry partnerships, and our competitively advantaged technologies," the Rolls-Royce CEO said.

"We are determined to partner India on its Atmanirbhar journey, by developing indigenous propulsion capabilities, providing sustained power to critical infrastructure and industry, and expanding local manufacturing for global supply chains."

Among the major defence projects, Rolls-Royce has been eyeing to develop a next-generation aero engine in India as a priority to power the combat jets that New Delhi will produce under the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme.

Rolls-Royce with the UK government, has offered to co-develop a 120 kN class combat jet engine core that could be India's fastest route to an indigenous next-generation engine. The co-development will provide full technology transfer with IP (intellectual property) ownership for India, supported by a dedicated design complex and manufacturing capabilities that will unlock significant job creation.

"We believe our unique portfolio of advanced capabilities can help us grow our presence and partnerships further, to power, protect and connect India for decades to come," Erginbilgic said.