Pointing out that Rolls Royce plans in India go well past 2030, Kishore Jayaraman, President, India and South Asia, Rolls-Royce India Pvt Ltd, talks about the company and India. Excerpts.

Given the way the Indian Government is moving in defence contracts does it throw up any uncertainty?

Not really. These are all big deals. They take time. They are moving as fast as they can under the circumstances.

So there are no worries?

I am not worried. But what I want to make sure is that the right technical and commercial decision is made.

Can you elaborate on that? An European diplomat has said that defence deals are generally flawed?

I will have to leave it as an opinion of his. When you do business you always win a few and lose a few. You always hope that you have done the best thing and put your best foot forward and that the Government or procurement agency has done the right thing for their own business. The process is very secure with our L1 and L2, technical and commercial bid. So, there is a lot of emphasis to ensure that the right selection is made at every step.

Are you in the fray for the Indian Air Force tanker refuelling project?

Yes, we are in the fray. We are very hopeful that we will be selected because the Airbus 330 with our Trent 700 engine combination is the most efficient.

Of the four segments which is doing the best in India?

Defence. Around 40 per cent of total business is contributed by it.

Is that because of the mega deals coming up?

It is because of our presence in the sector for a long time. Energy and engines (are) impacted by fuel. For green applications, we are doing well. Engines for mining activities and big trucks are suffering because of slowdown.

We do not want to be a company that just sells and takes revenues, we want to be part of the fabric. What that means is that we want to build more on the supply chain side. We want to look at opportunities to build relationships at the Government levels between the UK and India. Beyond this, if we really want to be part of the fabric we will have to see how to co-operate with institutions to build the next generation.

During PM Cameron’s visit, India and the UK signed an MoU for co-operation in the civil nuclear field. Have you made progress in this field?

The civil nuclear field is interesting. One of the areas of concern is the liability law. The second thing is the safe guarded versus non-safeguarded reactors; what is perceived as okay in India might be perceived differently outside. We need to clear a lot of export control hurdles on both sides. But for us need to be in a position to have a good commercial agreement.

What do you mean by a good commercial agreement?

Basically, liability law. Everything else is fine. The liability law is so onerous that it is tough for companies to do business. What is the update on the project announced with HAL?

In 2010, we announced a tie-up with HAL to build aerospace components. It took till 2011 to take the first step forward.

Was that as planned?

There was a little bit of delay in terms of figuring out where it should be. You have to make sure it is in the right location so there were some land and other things for which we got permission and got them sorted out. Those took a little longer.

How much longer?

Longer than what we had planned so about three to six months but we were able to catch up later by putting the entire facility within a 12- month window. The whole thing became operational in March. And we actually shipped parts to our engines (facility) back in the UK.

Almost 99 per cent of the labour force is Indian. A large part we want to source from this country. Because we are in the initial stages we do get some components from overseas but we will look at how we build that supply chain out of India so that eventually it will be a fully contained manufacturing facility in this country.

The inspection and qualification of the component is done here and then it gets shipped directly to the engine. So there is no intermediate checking anywhere else.

So it is assembled in Bangalore and shipped?

No it is machined here... these are small parts like the cones and shrouds and these are shipped straight to Derby.

Is the Bangalore plant anywhere close to creating an engine by itself?

Not right now. We want to work towards that and we want to create an environment where such a thing becomes possible. I spend about 30 per cent of my time working with CSIR, and others figuring out what we should be doing in terms of engine development in this country.

It is not as simple as saying that any engine development that happens globally happens with the support of the Government. We are very open to collaborate, co-operate and do the right thing.

How much has Rolls Royce invested here and where do you see it going?

I will not be able to share with you what we have invested in terms of pounds or dollars. But in terms of people we have about 500 plus people and 1,000 plus engineers. We are manufacturing in Bangalore. We have a repair shop in Mumbai and a repair shop and test facility in Pune.

Have you tied up with any State Government?

Not yet. I have spoken to the Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra Governments. I keep talking to various state governments trying to figure out what direction they are going to take. So when you talk about investments, I think investments in terms of dollars and pounds is one thing, but what do we want to do to be part of the aerospace sector and be a part of the building block is what we are trying to figure out what will be the best way to do that. We are still a long way to go.

>ashwini.phadnis@thehindu.co.in

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