NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to establish the country as a manufacturing hub through the Make-in-India project, and launched the regional connectivity initiative to expand aviation links. Rolls-Royce is now keen to aid both programmes — by making smaller aircraft locally.The company, which commands a 50 per cent market share of engines that power long-haul aircraft globally, also makes them for smaller aircraft that are crucial to improve connectivity across the South Asian nation, where the surface-transport infrastructure is often considered out of date with the country’s rising economic profile.“We have offerings in that space — 50 to 60-seater aircraft — but you need a structural manufacturer, and orders from the market. Yes, we can supply engines made in India. Various Indian companies, including the Tata and Mahindra groups, want to bring an aircraft. We are open to partnerships with any of them in order to bring the right thing,” Kishore Jayaraman, President of Rolls-Royce India and South Asia, told ET.Rolls-Royce has sought to provide options to local companies, and a lot of groundwork has been done so far with the relevant companies, he said. Notably, Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has plans to build the first ‘Made in India’ regional civil aircraft by 2020-22 through the public-private partnership (PPP) model. Rolls-Royce and HAL are joint venture partners in a firm that produces various components used in aircraft engines.Jayaraman, however, said that the joint venture with HAL does not bar Rolls-Royce from getting into an agreement with any private company to make regional aircraft in India.“The JV with HAL stands within its own realms. We just have to inform it, like any partner, whenever we plan to enter into an agreement to make small aircraft,” he further said. Alocally made small aircraft would provide a boost to the government’s regional connectivity plan, called Ude Desh ke Aam Nagrik (UDAN) that aims to take flying to smaller airports at a subsidised fare of `2,500 for an hour of flight. The first flight under the scheme will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister in Shimla on April 27, 2017.Jayraman believes that the UDAN programme is based on a sustainable model.“It is very doable, and based on a sustainable model. The plan has been arrived at with a certain degree of competition, and with a reasonable fare that would appeal to the crowd below that of the low-cost airline today. The plan will bridge the gap between no flying and the lowest end of the fare band at low-cost airlines,” he said.