Morgan Stanley reiterated its positive stance on Reliance Industries after the company announced a rare foray into the defence sector with a partnership with British engine maker Rolls-Royce, with the international brokerage highlighting that the Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate is re-imagining its strategic direction again.
Reliance Industries and Rolls-Royce on Friday announced their strategic intent to partner on the design, development, manufacturing and delivery of a sovereign indigenous combat engine for India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme. The proposed partnership brings together Rolls-Royce’s expertise in advanced propulsion and Reliance Industries’ technology, manufacturing and execution capabilities.
Morgan Stanley said manufacturing is getting a fillip through the partnership, especially in areas where technology and capital are key bottlenecks. Reliance Industries evolved via chemicals in the 1980s, refining in the 2000s, consumer facing vertical in 2010s and manufacturing in 2020s, it added.
Reliance and Rolls-Royce now plan to scale operations to build an Indian aero-engine ecosystem. They will also explore the formation of a dedicated Aerospace Gas Turbine Complex to help build sovereign, end-to-end Indian capability across design, development, manufacturing, testing, production and through-life support, with opportunities to explore a wider collaboration across defence, civil aerospace and new power and propulsion systems.
Morgan Stanley highlighted that AMCA programme is likely to be competitive, with Safran positioning itself and GE Aerospace already supplying the F404/F414 family of engines for the Tejas fighter jet programme. “Reliance brings a track record of delivering and operating large-scale industrial projects, developing supplier ecosystems, and supporting long-cycle investment programmes. Now, this could combine with Rolls-Royce engine technology and development expertise,” it said.
Reliance Industries share price
Reliance Industries shares closed around 0.5% higher at Rs 1,316 apiece on Monday, despite the overall bearish market sentiment, The stock has fallen around 1% in a week and a month, and is overall down 16% in 2026 so far.
In the longer term, RIL shares have fallen over 4% in a year but gained 4% in three years and 22% in five years. India’s most valuable company has a market capitalisation of nearly Rs 17.81 lakh crore.
Also read | Reliance Industries, Rolls-Royce to partner on indigenous AMCA combat engine
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