Embraer Expands India Supply Chain Across Commercial and Defence Segments, Signs Deals with Hindalco, Bharat Forge and Adani
Why It MattersThe expansion shows how OEMs increasingly localize raw-material and structural sourcing in India ahead of firm defence procurement outcomes, tying commercial and military supply chains to the same domestic supplier base.
What happened
Embraer is expanding its supply chain in India across both commercial and defence aviation, according to Sankalp Shrivastava, Country Head and Director of Embraer Defence & Security India. He said the company has spent the past three to four years developing this supply chain through exploratory visits, supplier assessments and engagement with government stakeholders, evaluating capabilities in aerostructures assembly, machining, metal forming, composites, wiring systems, and hardware and software development.
Embraer has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hindalco Industries to explore aerospace-grade aluminium raw material manufacturing. It has also signed a contract with Bharat Forge Ltd for the supply of forged raw materials, under which Bharat Forge will support Embraer's global supply chain with forged products for critical structural components. Separately, Mahindra has become an Embraer supplier through its partnership with Spain-based Aernnova.
On the commercial side, Embraer earlier this year announced a strategic partnership with Adani Defence & Aerospace to establish a final assembly line for the E175 aircraft in India; Shrivastava said this partnership also covers supply chain development, MRO services, aftermarket support and pilot training infrastructure. If Embraer's C390 is selected under the Indian Air Force's Medium Transport Aircraft programme, Embraer plans to establish an MRO hub in India with Mahindra, covering base and heavy maintenance, structural inspections and testing, component repair and overhaul, avionics support and training services. Embraer currently holds service partnerships with Air Works and Indamer for maintenance support across commercial, defence and executive jet operations in India, including aircraft operated by the Indian Air Force.
Industry impact & what to watch
This case fits a broader trend of global airframers layering commercial and defence localisation onto the same national supplier base rather than treating them as separate campaigns. Raw-material deals like the Hindalco MoU and the Bharat Forge contract sit upstream of final assembly and MRO commitments, giving an OEM leverage across metals, structures and aftermarket in one market simultaneously.
How far this localisation goes still depends on a defence procurement outcome that has not been decided: the India MRO hub with Mahindra is explicitly contingent on the C390 being selected under the Medium Transport Aircraft programme. Until that selection is made, the commercial-side commitments — the E175 assembly line with Adani, the Air Works and Indamer service partnerships — are the only parts of this build-out operating independent of the defence contract's outcome.
Shrivastava's comments on expanding roles for India-based MSMEs and Tier-1 suppliers, and on engineering and digital transformation partnerships, point to where the next disclosures are likely to come from: specific supplier names, contract values and localisation timelines tied to whichever of these tracks — commercial or defence — moves first.
