Rolls-Royce sees big opportunity in nuclear power in India: Kishore Jayaraman

Kishore Jayaraman, president for India & South Asia at Rolls-Royce, is in charge of five different businesses – civil aerospace, defence aerospace, marine, nuclear and power systems. In an emailed interaction with DNA Money, he defended the company against allegations of corruption, plans to manufacture engines for combat aircraft in India, develop small aircraft in India in collaboration with native companies, etc.

There have been allegations against Rolls Royce that it sent an agent to retrieve an allegedly incriminating document from Indian tax authorities in 2006. What is the current status of the case?

These past practices do not reflect the manner in which Rolls-Royce does business today. We have zero tolerance of business misconduct of any sort. We have cooperated fully with the authorities and will continue to do so.We have taken extensive action to strengthen our ethics and compliance procedures, including recommendations by Lord Gold, a leading international expert in this field so that high standards of business conduct are embedded as an essential part of the way we do business. We will emerge from this difficult episode a more trusted, resilient and better-managed business.We have a strong relationship with India which stretches back more than 80 years. Today, we employ more than 1,000 highly skilled people here and expect this to continue to grow as we continue to grow India as a strategic market.

How much of new investment the company plans to do on medium- and long-term basis in India across the sector it operates in?

For us, India continues to be one of the most important strategic markets globally and we are committed to build on our distinguished legacy and long-standing partnership to help support India's future ambitions. We see a huge potential in India and we will definitely leverage our strategic partnerships for pursuing future mutual growth. Throughout our 80-year journey, we have invested time and resources to increase the capability of Indian industry. As India gets ready to move on its growth path, we will continue to support the country with our powerful portfolio of products and services and the right combination of experience and advanced technologies.

The company is also believed to have plans for manufacturing of engines for combat aircraft in India.

We believe India has a great pool of talented engineers and scientists and they have made great strides towards an indigenous engine in recent years. As a gas-turbine engine company, Rolls-Royce is naturally interested in working on the design and development of indigenous aero-engines in India. Given our experience in executing multinational combat engine programmes and as the only company to have transferred whole engine capability outside of our home market, we are perfectly positioned to support India's future programmes.

What is happening in marine and nuclear sectors?

Our marine business offers an extensive product base and proven experience in both ship design and system integration which enables us to bring the right products together when developing power, propulsion and motion control solutions that are fully matched to a vessel's operating profile. In India, over 270 commercial vessels and over 90 vessels of Indian Navy and Coastguard operate with our equipment. We also have recent orders for supply of stern gear for seven Indian Naval Frigates and five Indian Naval OPVs. With Indian Navy planning for major modernisation drive, there is an opportunity to develop the indigenous capability for design and manufacturing of ships, submarines and sub-systems. Also, Indian Coastguard and Navy are transitioning to a faster fleet for increased littoral security.

With the Indian government setting a target to achieve an estimated 60 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2030, we are witnessing a renewed interest in fast-tracking new nuclear builds. This would open up multiple opportunities for global reactor majors and suppliers like us. Looking to the future, we see a good market potential for our instrumentation & control (I&C) products, manufacturing solutions, design services and other reactor support services in which we have proven capabilities globally.

You are a strong supporter of regional connectivity scheme (RCS) launched by the government to promote aviation sector in India. How soon do you see things taking shape in that space?

India is enjoying a sustained meteoric growth in air passenger volumes. As the country's economy continues on its upward trajectory, Indians will continue to be increasingly mobile, internationally and domestically. Favourable policy amendments, the launch of National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP 2016) as well as initiatives such as UDAN which focusses on the critical pillars of 'affordability' and 'connectivity' – will continue to spur the growth of the civil aviation sector. Other than that, stable economic growth, cost advantages and a robust talent pool have served to increase the interest from global manufacturers. More importantly, the government's 'Make in India' initiative, has provided a push for airframe manufacturers to increasingly use aerospace suppliers based in the country. Today, many global and domestic players are collaborating and forming joint ventures for manufacturing of aero components, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities, besides overhaul and maintenance of aero engines. All this activity definitely indicates that the country is rapidly building capabilities to emerge as one of the world's major aerospace hubs.