Rolls-Royce Powers India’s Next Leap with MRO, Jet Engines, and Nuclear Ambitions

Rolls-Royce is preparing a major expansion in India with plans to establish a local Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility for civil aviation engines and a full aero gas turbine complex with complete technology transfer for indigenous military jet engines, including the AMCA program. The company is also exploring small modular reactors (SMRs) for India’s civil nuclear sector, potentially investing billions and creating over 10,000 jobs.

Civil Aviation MRO Facility

• Current Status: Indian aircraft engines are serviced in Singapore and Hong Kong.
• Future Plan: Rolls-Royce will set up a domestic MRO hub to support India’s growing fleet.
• Drivers:
  • Air India & IndiGo have ordered 100+ Airbus A350s, powered exclusively by Rolls-Royce engines.
  • Over 220 engines and spares expected in India in the next few years.

Aero Gas Turbine Complex

• Scope: Indigenous development of military jet engines, starting with the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).
• Technology Transfer: Rolls-Royce has offered complete IP transfer, ensuring Indian sovereignty over engine design.
• Timeline:
  • Ground trials: Targeted by 2032
  • First flight: Expected by 2034
• Expansion: Facility may later support dual-use engines for civil aviation.

Nuclear Energy – Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)

• Policy Context: Enabled by India’s Shanti Act 2025, which ended public sector monopoly in nuclear energy.
• Rolls-Royce Interest: Exploring deployment of SMRs for clean, scalable civil nuclear power.

Strategic Impact

Initiative	Focus Area	Timeline/Scale	Impact
Civil MRO	Aircraft engine servicing	Within next few years	Reduces reliance on overseas hubs
Gas Turbine Complex	Military jet engines (AMCA)	Trials by 2032, flight by 2034	Indigenous propulsion capability
SMRs	Civil nuclear energy	Post-2025	Clean energy, billions in investment

Risks & Challenges

• Capital Intensive: Requires sustained R&D and infrastructure investment.
• Global Competition: Competing with established aerospace giants in US/EU.
• Supply Chain Dependence: India must strengthen domestic ecosystem to reduce reliance on imported sub-systems.

Strategic Positioning

• Rolls-Royce sees India as its fourth “home market” after UK, US, and Germany.
• Longstanding partnerships with HAL and Force Motors already anchor its presence.
• Potential to employ 10,000+ people and invest billions of dollars in India’s aerospace and energy sectors.

Rolls-Royce and TCS Collaborate on Hydrogen Fuel System Tech Research

TCS expands its partnership with Rolls-Royce to research hydrogen fuel system technology, continuing to prove hydrogen could be a zero-carbon aviation fuel of the future

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has expanded its partnership with Rolls-Royce, a British multinational specializing in civil aerospace, defence aerospace, services and power systems, to advance its sustainable initiatives. This collaboration involves research into hydrogen fuel system technology, continuing to prove hydrogen could be a zero-carbon aviation fuel of the future.

TCS, leveraging its expertise as a trusted service provider, will provide engineering skills and support to Rolls-Royce as it addresses three key challenges in the journey to enabling hydrogen for use in aviation: fuel combustion, fuel delivery, and fuel systems integration with an engine. All elements must be confirmed to operate safely.

This partnership underscores TCS's commitment to driving sustainable transformation across industries, aligning with its broader mission to harness technology for positive societal impact. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has set ambitious targets for net zero carbon emissions by 2050, necessitating innovative sustainability solutions.

To recall, in early of last month the world's first in-flight study of commercial aircraft using 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) was released and it has shown promising results. The study, which involved an Airbus A350 aircraft powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, revealed a significant reduction in soot particle emissions and the formation of contrail ice crystals when compared to conventional Jet A-1 fuel.

Alan Newby, Director, Research and Technology, Rolls-Royce, said, “We welcome TCS to our hydrogen research programme and their engineering skills will play a valuable role in addressing our technology goals. We’ve already made great progress and having TCS with us gives us additional capability as we move forward on our journey to enable the energy transition for the aviation sector.”

This expanded partnership was announced at the Farnborough International Airshow where TCS also showcased its technological prowess in the aviation industry. The partnership builds on a long-standing relationship between Rolls-Royce and the Tata Group, including engines and a strong supply chain commitment. TCS has also been working with Rolls-Royce since 2010 in the areas of design, manufacturing engineering, control systems and software, after-market services as well as IT services. Having supported Rolls-Royce in major civil and business aviation programs, TCS has also supported its end-to-end product development lifecycle.

Anupam Singhal, President - Manufacturing, TCS, said, “The partnership between TCS and Rolls-Royce is an exciting one that represents a powerful alliance in the quest for sustainable aviation solutions. We are aligned with Rolls-Royce’s ambition for a greener future. This partnership is the perfect opportunity to put our technological strengths and passion for the environment to use for advancing innovation and fostering an eco-friendlier aerospace sector.”

TCS will leverage its deep domain knowledge of the aircraft manufacturing industry and will support the engineering activities of Rolls-Royce such as system design, component design, supply chain support and program management. These services will help Rolls-Royce research hydrogen technology as it addresses three key challenges in the journey to enabling hydrogen for use in aviation: fuel combustion, fuel delivery and fuel systems integration with an engine. All elements must be confirmed to operate safely.

Regu Ayyaswamy, Senior Vice President and Global Head- Internet of Things and Digital Engineering, TCS, said, “TCS and Rolls-Royce have been partners in advancing engineering excellence for nearly a decade. The new partnership for research into hydrogen fuel systems represents a pivotal next step at a time when the aviation industry is faced with the urgent challenge of reducing carbon emissions while maintaining performance and efficiency. It aligns well with TCS’ commitment to harness technology for positive societal impact and building a greener future.”

TCS has been on a mission to harness the power of technology for positive societal impact and drive sustainable transformation across industries. With more than 200 sustainability offerings, TCS is helping customers around the world in their sustainability journeys.

As a Tata group company, TCS is also conscious of its impact on the environment. In 2021, TCS had set an ambitious sustainability target to reduce its absolute emissions by 70% across Scope 1 and Scope 2 by 2025 over the baseline year 2016 and to achieve net zero by 2030. By FY24, TCS had already reduced its absolute carbon footprint across Scope 1 and Scope 2 by 80% over a baseline of 2016, exceeding its target achievement by 10%, one year ahead of time.

Infosys and Rolls-Royce Jointly Launch ‘Aerospace Engineering and Digital Innovation Centre’

Indian IT giant Infosys and British luxury automobile maker. Rolls-Royce, have announced the opening of their joint “Aerospace Engineering and Digital Innovation Centre’ in Bengaluru. 

The centre is the extension of the partnership that Infosys signed signed with Rolls-Royce in December 2020, for sourcing engineering and R&D Services for Rolls-Royce's Civil Aerospace business.

The centre has been established to provide high-end research and development (R&D) services integrated with advanced digital capabilities to Rolls-Royce’s engineering and group business services from India. Infosys and Rolls-Royce’s collaboration has been reinforced through strategic deals, aimed at yielding mutual benefits to both organisations over the next seven years.

As part of this collaboration, Infosys and Rolls-Royce will combine their aerospace, engineering and digital services capabilities to explore opportunities for driving digital and engineering innovation and associated cost optimisation strategies. By expanding the local talent pool in the country, the two companies will also deliver manufacturing engineering services for the global civil aerospace ecosystem.

By expanding the local talent pool in the country, the two companies will also deliver manufacturing engineering services for the global civil aerospace ecosystem.

Over the last decade, Rolls-Royce established a multidisciplinary engineering centre in Bengaluru as part of its efforts to boost engineering and R&D services in India. 

Rolls-Royce launched R² Data Labs, which is a innovation lab by the company, in 2017, and in 2019 the R² Data Labs launched a startup accelerator in Bengaluru. The first cohort of this accelerator program was announced in September of the same year. The R² Data Labs-powered programme and was supported by NUMA Bengaluru.

Of late Aerospace sector has seen a sudden boom in the country. Last December, mach33.aero - an Accelerator and Incubation Platform for Entrepreneurs in Aerospace and Allied Industries, was launched by Social Alpha, an initiative supported by Tata Trusts, along with the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) [an enterprise under DST, Ministry of S&T, Govt. of India] and CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL).

Last month, ISRO and Central University of Jammu together announced the launch of a major space & aviation training institute in Jammu for the course of BTech in "Aviation & Aeronautics". The selection criteria for same will be through IIT-JEE .  

Rolls-Royce and Infosys Announce Strategic Partnership for Aerospace Engineering in India

BENGALURU, India , Dec. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Rolls-Royce, one of the world's leading aerospace and defence technology companies, and Infosys  (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, signed a strategic partnership for sourcing engineering and R&D Services for Rolls-Royce's Civil Aerospace business. As part of the overall partnership, Rolls-Royce will transition a significant part of its engineering centre capabilities for Civil Aerospace in Bengaluru to Infosys. Leveraging its expertise in core engineering services, digital transformation capabilities, and Rolls-Royce product knowledge acquired through the partnership, Infosys will provide a full range of high-end engineering and R&D services integrated with advanced digital service to Rolls-Royce.

Speaking about the partnership, Kishore Jayaraman , President, Rolls-Royce India & South Asia , said, "India has grown to become a key contributor to the Rolls-Royce global engineering ecosystem, delivering high levels of technical capability to support a broad range of complex business demands. Our vision is to continue this high capability engineering work in India , in partnership with Infosys. Infosys has been a valued partner to Rolls-Royce for many years, and we now look forward to building on this strategic partnership to secure the full range of our engineering capabilities here, while ensuring future growth potential for our engineering talent. We are committed to India and remain positive about the long-term prospects in this market."

Jasmeet Singh , Executive Vice President and Global Head of Manufacturing, Infosys , said, "We have always believed it is important to integrate the physical knowledge of a product with digital capabilities like Industry 4.0, additive manufacturing, and predictive analytics. The Rolls-Royce engineering team at Bengaluru has been at the forefront of these innovations, and we are delighted to welcome them to Infosys. We have had a long and fruitful association with Rolls-Royce and are looking forward to supporting the company in addressing Civil Aerospace industry challenges. We are confident that this excellent talent will be a great addition to Infosys' deep experience in turbomachinery. We look forward to continuing to deliver industry leading solutions to our clients in the aerospace and defence sectors and beyond, while providing a great career path to our new colleagues within a rapidly growing ecosystem."

Over the past decade, Rolls-Royce established a multidisciplinary engineering centre in Bengaluru, and this has been an integral part of Rolls-Royce Engineering and R&D services. The Centre covers a mix of engineering capabilities spanning the full range of sub-functions and specialisms in R&D. Going forward, Rolls-Royce will continue these complex engineering activities in India in partnership with Infosys.

Through robust investments over last two decades, Infosys has established an industry leading position in engineering services and is delivering end-to-end solutions to customers in the turbomachinery, propulsion (TMP), aerospace and defence industries. The ability to take over customer centres, seamlessly integrate them and leverage strong native engineering and digital capabilities has enabled Infosys to deliver enhanced services while optimizing operational costs for its customers. The engineering centre for Civil Aerospace will strengthen Infosys' existing capabilities in Turbomachinery and Propulsion that are currently delivered through a network of engineering centres in Mysore, Baden, and Karlovac.

About Rolls-Royce Holdings plc

Rolls-Royce pioneers cutting-edge technologies that deliver clean, safe and competitive solutions to meet our planet's vital power needs. Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 150 countries, comprising more than 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 70 navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers. Annual underlying revenue was £15.45 billion in 2019, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. In 2019, Rolls-Royce invested £1.46 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 29 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research. Visit www.Rolls-Royce.com/india

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in 46 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With nearly four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India , the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India , our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India , unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020 . These filings are available at www.sec.gov . Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

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World AI Leaders from Dell Technologies, Rolls-Royce and Kryon, among others, Discuss AI Strategies in Singapore

The Singapore edition of World AI Show reinvigorated the nation’s AI efforts by bringing in top global investors, startups, digital companies, solution providers and AI experts such as Dr Terence Hung from Rolls-Royce Singapore; Sutowo Wong from the Ministry of Health, Singapore; and Guido Jouret, Chief Digital Officer of ABB; to name a few.

Given its infrastructure capacity, education system and investor-friendly laws, Singapore has all the right ingredients to nurture a robust AI ecosystem that could be the cornerstone for the small island’s economic upswing. According to a recent report by Accenture, AI could add up to US$215 billion in gross value across 11 industries in Singapore by 2035. With the Singapore government’s vehement efforts to foster initiatives in the AI space, the nation was the ideal location to host the 9th edition of the global World AI Show series that had hit the ground running for the second time in Singapore on 24 July 2019.

The show was organised by international business events and consulting firm, Trescon.

“Singapore is one of the top locations for AI and Robotics investments. Our mission was to fuel Singapore’s AI startup ecosystem by bringing in some of the world’s best AI innovators, solution providers, startups and investors to foster business opportunities for the Singapore government as well as regional and international companies”, said Mohammed Saleem, CEO of Trescon.

300+ top industry leaders from the AI community came together to share their insights on how AI is transcending as a core enabling technology that can power multiple sectors.

Top speakers for the event included Dr Terence Hung, Chief of Future Intelligence Technologies, Rolls-Royce Singapore Pte Ltd; Sutowo Wong, Director, Analytics & Information Management Division, Data Analytics Group, Ministry of Health; Dragana Beara, Portfolio Messaging Director, Asia Pacific and Japan, Dell Technologies; Prof Nadia Magnenat Thalmann, Director (IMI), NTU, Singapore and Founder & Director, Miralab of University of Geneva, Switzerland and Guido Jouret, Chief Digital Officer of ABB among other top speakers.

In her keynote speech, Dragana Beara quoted, "Most of the AI development right now is done to create collaborative AI to augment us and give us an ability to leverage our humanity. Everything tedious, difficult or that we are not good at, like computing or getting insights from huge data sets is something we are going to outsource to the AI system."

The show also featured a workshop session from Warren Ledingham from Kryon who took the audience through a technical deep-dive session on ‘How to Save 80% of Your Automation Implementation Time’, and an almost human-like Robot interaction between Professor Nadia Magnenat Thalmann and her female humanoid social robot Nadine, that can remember past conversations.

The global pitch competition for startups in the future-tech space, Startup Grand Slam, was the highlight of the show. Opu Labs, Inc, a digital solutions provider for skin health analysis won the Startup Grand Slam pitch competition and Trsts as runner-up.

World AI Show - Singapore 2019 was sponsored by Lead Partner, Dell Technologies Platinum Partner, Kanerika; Workshop Partner, Kryon; Gold Partner, Darktrace, Silver Partner, DDN Storage; Badge Partner, QualityKiosk Technologies, Premier Bronze Partner, ADVANCE.AI

Rolls Royce’s Data Labs to Launch Startup Accelerator in Bengaluru in April

R² Data Labs, which is a innovation lab by engineering company 'Rolls-Royce', will launch a startup accelerator in Bengaluru in April this year to develop a collaborative ecosystem of digital partners in India, the company announced in Bangalore on Wednesday.

With the startup accelerator, Rolls-Royce wants to use data to spark innovation in all of its businesses and collaborate more effectively with partners and customers.

Rolls-Royce will provide mentoring and technical support to start-ups specialising in the areas of Advanced Analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, Quantum Computing, Autonomous and Sensing.

Launched in December 2017 by the company, R² Data Labs acts as a ‘data innovation guild’ across Rolls-Royce, connecting people from all over the business to collect, champion and inspire data and AI innovation.

Rolls-Royce has specifically chosen Bangalore to launch this program in India due to the growing number of technology companies there.

According to recent reports, Bangalore is now ranked as the city with highest growth index for start-up hubs, followed by London and Tel Aviv. The city is one among the nine ‘International Start-up Hubs’ outside of the United States and the start-up capital of India.

Commenting on the announcement, Caroline Gorski, group director, R² Data Labs, said, "Sitting at the heart of our vision for the digital age is a collaborative approach to innovation, where we actively look to develop new, radical ways of working to maintain our competitive edge. To this end, Rolls-Royce has been sponsoring, and collaborating with, niche technology start-ups in the areas of AI, Big Data Analytics, IoT, application development and future technologies across the world to help validate, build and grow their business."

"Unlocking hidden value in data requires new technology but also new ways of thinking. Working with IoT start-ups helps us to accelerate digital transformation, deliver further value to customers, improve existing services and create new areas of growth. At the same time, we also get to help those innovators to succeed, and share in their pace, inventiveness and energy,” said Gorski.

Rolls-Royce has more than 20 years of experience combining engineering expertise with data analytics, offering operational efficiencies to airline customers. Building on these foundations, Rolls-Royce is expanding its digital capabilities to deliver increased value from existing services and introduce new services to customers across the group.

Kishore Jayaraman, president, Rolls-Royce – India and South Asia, said, "Digital skills help accelerate India’s drive to develop its economy. The country’s vibrant digital ecosystem, supported by an innovative start-up environment, will facilitate the development of capabilities in these areas in the hope of creating immense opportunities across the lives of individuals and affect diverse industries including financial services, retail, media, travel, hospitality and healthcare. We recognise that some of the best digital capabilities exist outside of our business. For Rolls-Royce to continue to pioneer the power that matters as a leading industrial technology company and be a strong industrial partner, we must champion collaboration. As a leader in applied industrial AI and analytics applications, R² Data Labs is tasked to help Rolls-Royce become the ‘go-to’ industrial company.”

At present, Rolls-Royce already partners with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Microsoft, two globally-recognised digital service providers. As part of the partnership, TCS provides digital platform capability, allowing data to be captured, shared and analysed more easily across Rolls-Royce so that new products and services can be developed at pace.

In 2016, Rolls-Royce invested 1.3 billion pound (Rs 12,130 crore) in R&D. It also supports a global network of 31 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research.

Besides India, R² Data Labs has data innovation capability hubs in the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Singapore and New Zealand.

Source - AutoCarPro.in