Rolls-Royce Eyes Jet Engine and Naval Opportunities as it Plans India Expansion

In keeping with a strategy to fully realise the potential of prospects across a range of domains, including jet engines, naval propulsion, land systems, and advanced engineering, British aero-engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce announced on Sunday that it is considering making India its third "home market" outside of the UK. Sashi Mukundan, the executive vice president of Rolls-Royce India, elaborated on the move in an interview with PTI.

He stated that the company is preparing for a "big investment" in the nation and listed the development of 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. In addition to the UK, Rolls-Royce views the US and Germany as its "home markets" due to the company's significant presence and manufacturing facilities in these two nations.

How RR Could be a Game-Changer for Indian Armed Forces?

Additionally, Mukundan emphasised how Rolls Royce can make a substantial contribution to meeting India's need for electric propulsion capability in order to improve the fighting capabilities of the Indian Navy. Since Rolls-Royce is one of the few engine manufacturers in the world with the ability to marinise the aero engine, he proposed that the company's involvement in the AMCA's jet engine development may also assist India in producing engines for naval propulsion.

Without providing specifics, Mukundan stated that Rolls Royce was considering making a large investment to increase its presence in India, pointing out that the nation has "scale, policy clarity, and a strong push" towards a defence and industrial ecosystem that is growing quickly and becoming more advanced. He went on to say that it would be a substantial investment if all went according to plan.

The impact of this investment, which would be the growth of the whole value chain and ecosystem here across the industries in which we operate, is what counts. According to the company's senior executive, Rolls-Royce will sign two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with two Indian public sector defence projects. One agreement is for the production of engines for the Arjun tanks, while the other is for engines for combat vehicles that will be ready in the future.

India a Prime Market for RR

During a business roundtable in October, CEO Tufan Erginbilgic told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India will be crucial to Rolls-Royce's future. Mukundan stated that in-depth talks and background research are being done on how to proceed with the engines for AMCA.

According to Mukundan, all engine design work may be completed in India, along with the transfer of pertinent knowledge and the joint ownership of all new intellectual property (IP) rights with India. According to the chief executive at Rolls-Royce, India could benefit from the Rolls-Royce engine for AMCA in the development of electric propulsion for naval engines. To elaborate, he stated that naval engines with electric and hybrid propulsion are essentially marine gas turbines constructed from the aero engine core.