Reliance Industries and Rolls-Royce [LSE-RR] have announced their intention to jointly pursue India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) engine programme, giving the British propulsion company a major prospective Indian industrial partner.
The companies announced their strategic intent on 14 August. The proposed partnership would combine Rolls-Royce’s experience in advanced propulsion with Reliance’s technology, manufacturing scale and project execution capabilities.
Reliance and Rolls-Royce will also explore establishing a dedicated Aerospace Gas Turbine Complex in India. The proposed facility would support engine design, development, testing, manufacturing, production and through-life support.
The companies presented the initiative as a potential route towards developing and delivering a sovereign Indian combat-aircraft engine. They also said the cooperation could eventually extend beyond the AMCA programme to other defence, civil aerospace and future power and propulsion technologies.
Reliance Executive Director Anant Ambani said the objective was to combine the two companies’ capabilities to establish an Indian aero-engine ecosystem that could become self-reliant and globally competitive. Rolls-Royce CEO Tufan Erginbilgic described the partnership as a step towards building a stronger aerospace ecosystem in India.
The proposed indigenous engine is expected to target later AMCA configurations. Initial aircraft are currently planned around the GE Aerospace F414.
However, the Reliance–Rolls-Royce announcement is not an Indian government award, a signed joint venture or an engine development contract. The companies did not disclose the proposed ownership structure, investment, programme timetable or division of responsibility.
France’s Safran has submitted a separate proposal to work with India’s state-run Gas Turbine Research Establishment on a higher-thrust engine for future AMCA versions. The announcement therefore strengthens Rolls-Royce’s position as India considers competing approaches to its long-term fighter-engine requirement.
The proposed cooperation also raises a question concerning Rolls-Royce’s procurement status in India.
An Indian Ministry of Defence list published in August 2025 — the latest publicly available version located by TurDef — continued to place Rolls-Royce and its allied and subsidiary companies under “restricted procurement”. The document refers to a ministry decision dated 28 July 2014. Indian Ministry of Defence
No more recent public document changing that status could be identified, leaving the company’s current position without public clarification.
The designation does not amount to an absolute ban. Rolls-Royce is not listed among companies formally debarred, suspended or put on hold by the ministry.
The 2014 arrangement allowed selected procurement from Rolls-Royce where operational urgency, national security or the absence of alternatives justified continuing business. Such requirements had to be supported at a senior level within the relevant armed service.
The restriction followed a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the use of intermediaries in Rolls-Royce business involving state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The company had a substantial position in India, supplying engines and support for aircraft operated by the Indian Air Force and Navy.
The allegations left New Delhi balancing procurement integrity against operational dependence. Rather than impose a complete ban that could disrupt the availability of aircraft already powered by Rolls-Royce engines, India restricted future procurement while preserving exceptions for essential business.
The case complicated Rolls-Royce’s position within the wider UK–India defence relationship but did not end the company’s involvement in India. Rolls-Royce continued supporting engines already in Indian service, maintained industrial relationships in the country and later expanded local engineering, manufacturing and supply-chain cooperation.
Separately, other historical conduct involving Rolls-Royce’s Indian defence business was included in the company’s 2017 Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the UK Serious Fraud Office. The agreement described concealed use of intermediaries in the company’s former Indian operations. The five-year agreement expired in January 2022 after its terms were completed, and the SFO discontinued the proceedings.
The disclosures in the British proceedings later informed a separate Indian legal process concerning the procurement and licensed production of BAE Systems Hawk advanced jet trainers powered by Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour engines. In May 2023, the CBI registered a case alleging irregularities in those arrangements. The filing set out allegations and did not constitute a finding of guilt.
No publicly available evidence connects the new Reliance–Rolls-Royce initiative with the conduct or individuals involved in the earlier cases. The historical issue is relevant to the new proposal because the resulting procurement restriction remained visible in the latest publicly available Defence Ministry list.
The question will become material if the partnership develops into a formal proposal for the AMCA engine programme. At that stage, the Indian government may need to clarify whether the 2014 restriction remains in effect and under what legal and administrative arrangement Rolls-Royce would participate alongside Reliance.
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