Rolls-Royce upbeat on defence, civil aviation

Civil aero and defence engine major Rolls-Royce is betting big on India. The company is increasing its presence in the defence and civil aviation and exploring possibilities in software and engineering.

As part of its continued thrust on the Indian market, Rolls-Royce has announced the launch of its International Business Awareness course, which will be held for two weeks in Bangalore.

Talking to mediapersons on the occasion of centenary celebrations of Rolls-Royce, Tim Jones, managing director, Rolls-Royce India, said, "This is more like a mini-MBA course. It will focus on various management development programmes for giving an early exposure to the modern generation."

The course will have 27 delegates, including six from India. The launch of the course is in line with the company's worldwide collaboration with various technical institutions and departments, especially in the field of technical education.

Jones said the company is likely to bag a deal from the Indian Navy for the supply of pollution control vessels (PCV). These vessels will keep a check on oil spills in the Indian waters. Currently, the Coast Guard requires three such vessels and Rolls-Royce estimates a combined price of œ15 million.

"The coast Guard is in urgent need of three such PCVs. Our estimate for all three vessels does not include factors like the price of steel as it will not be built by us." he said.

Rolls-Royce also has a long-standing relationship with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd since 1956.

Jones said, "HAL has just despatched the first order of ring forgings in January 2004 to Rolls-Royce UK base."

During AeroIndia 2003, Rolls-Royce had said HAL will export its first batch of ring forgings.

These were to be incorporated into the Rolls-Royce civil aero engines under manufacture in the UK for worldwide operations.

HAL will export these ring forgings to Rolls-Royce at a value of $5 million over the next three years and this could potentially grow to $10 million over the next five years.

Jones denied all speculations over the delay in their engagement with the Indian Navy for deploying Syncrolift, a ship-lifting system at Karwar naval base.

"We are well on track to complete the project in time. The deal is worth $33 million. We are investing back $22 million for outsourcing from Indian contractors for the project. The system will be fully functional by 2006," Jones said.