In a move that pushes India deeper into the global aerospace supply chain, Pune-based Bharat Forge Limited has signed a long-term contract with Brazilian planemaker Embraer to manufacture and supply critical landing gear forgings for the company’s commercial and defence aircraft programmes.
The agreement announced on Monday makes Bharat Forge the first Indian company to enter Embraer’s global supply chain for forged components – a milestone that has been quietly building for years as the Kalyani Group firm steadily expanded beyond its traditional automotive base into safety-critical aerospace work.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
For Embraer – best known for its E-Jet family of regional aircraft and the C-390 Millennium military transporter- the contract is part of a broader push to spread its supplier base beyond its traditional bases in the Americas and Europe. The company has been talking up India as a strategic sourcing destination for some time, and Monday’s announcement gives that rhetoric a concrete footing.
“In line with our supply chain diversification strategy, we view India as a major opportunity,” Roberto Chaves, Embraer’s Executive Vice President of Global Procurement and Supply Chain, said in a statement. “This contract reinforces our plans to create a more resilient and competitive supply chain, as well as our commitment to developing the Indian aerospace industry.”
Embraer is currently in the middle of a closely watched competition to supply the Indian Air Force with a fleet of medium transport aircraft to replace its ageing Antonov An-32 fleet. Its C-390 is up against Airbus’s A400M and Lockheed Martin’s C-130J for an order of at least 40 aircraft, and the Brazilian company has been busy lining up Indian industrial partners Hindalco and the Adani Group among them — in anticipation of a possible domestic manufacturing requirement.
Seen against that backdrop, the Bharat Forge contract reads as much as a signal of intent as it does a commercial agreement.
Amit B. Kalyani, Vice Chairman and Joint Managing Director of Bharat Forge, framed the deal as a validation of the company’s nearly two-decade journey into aerospace. “The fact that BFL is the first Indian supplier of forged components for Embraer is a proud moment and a testament to the capabilities we have built in the aerospace business, and we thank them for the trust they have reimposed on BFL,” he said. “We look forward to growing and adding value to our association with Embraer in the coming years.”
Kalyani also pointed to the strategic logic for Bharat Forge itself. “These contracts will enable us to create scale for critical structural components, complementing the scale built in the aero engine components space,” he added a nod to the company’s existing work supplying parts for aircraft engines, which has so far formed the bulk of its aerospace revenue.
Bharat Forge will supply high-integrity forged components used in landing gear systems and other structural assemblies across Embraer’s commercial jets and defence platforms. Landing gear forgings are among the most demanding parts on any aircraft, made from high-strength alloys and subject to some of the most stringent certification standards in the industry – a niche dominated until now by a small group of suppliers in the United States, France and Japan.
For the wider Indian aerospace ecosystem, the deal is being read as a long-awaited shift up the value chain. Indian firms have historically handled software, MRO work and lower-tier sub-systems for global aerospace majors; structural forgings of this complexity sit in noticeably tougher territory.
Whether this contract eventually opens the door to similar long-term agreements with the likes of Boeing or Airbus the obvious next prize will be watched closely on Dalal Street and in Bengaluru’s aerospace clusters alike. For now, both companies seem content to call it a beginning.
