Embraer deepens India supply chain

Embraer has spent the past year turning India from a sourcing prospect into a named supplier base for metals, forgings, aerostructures and aircraft support. The Brazilian planemaker’s agreements with Hindalco, Bharat Forge, Mahindra Group and Adani Defence & Aerospace span both commercial aviation and defense programs, according to company statements released between October 2025 and May 2026. The arrangement is broader than a single factory announcement: it links raw materials, forged parts, potential aerostructures work, and proposed assembly and maintenance activity in India. Embraer has tied those steps to its commercial jets business and to the C-390 Millennium military transport campaign in India. ### How did Embraer build up to this? Embraer said on September 12, 2024 that it was evaluating an expanded Indian supply chain across aerostructures, machining, sheet metal, composites, forgings, wire harnesses, and hardware and software development. The company said then that it saw supplier opportunities across defense, commercial aviation and executive jets. October 17, 2025 brought the first major defense-industrial step. (embraer.com) Mahindra Group and Embraer Defense & Security signed a strategic cooperation agreement around the C-390 Millennium for India’s Medium Transport Aircraft program, with the companies saying they would identify opportunities for local manufacturing, assembly facilities, supply chain and MRO activities. Embraer said the long-term ambition was to position India as a manufacturing and support hub for the C-390 serving domestic and regional requirements. ### What is Hindalco supposed to supply? Hindalco and Embraer signed a memorandum of understanding on February 20, 2026 to assess aerospace business opportunities in India centered on aerospace-grade aluminum raw material manufacturing. Embraer said the work would explore support for its industrial initiatives while developing the local aerospace supply chain. (embraer.com) Hindalco describes itself as a major aluminum and copper producer with defense applications, but the Embraer statement stopped at exploratory language and did not announce a production contract, volumes or aircraft program allocations. That makes the Hindalco piece the upstream materials leg of the India plan rather than a confirmed serial supply award so far. ### Why does Bharat Forge stand out inside the package? Bharat Forge and Embraer signed a supply contract on May 11, 2026 for forged raw materials, which Embraer called its first forged raw material supply contract with an Indian supplier. (embraer.com) Embraer said the agreement would support its global supply chain with forged products, while Bharat Forge said it would manufacture and supply critical landing gear forgings across Embraer’s commercial and defense aircraft programs. (hindalco.com) Pune-based Bharat Forge framed the deal as its entry into Embraer’s global aerospace supply chain for forged components. That language matters because it points to serial production content rather than only a memorandum of understanding. ### Where do Mahindra and Adani fit? Mahindra’s role is tied to defense and aerostructures work around the C-390. (embraer.com) Embraer said the October 2025 agreement covered local manufacturing, assembly facilities, supply chain and MRO activity connected to the aircraft’s India campaign. Adani Defence & Aerospace is the commercial aviation anchor. (bharatforge.com) Embraer and Adani signed an MoU on January 27, 2026 to develop an integrated regional transport aircraft ecosystem in India, then exchanged an enhanced MoU on February 21 regarding a proposed final assembly line for the E175 regional jet under India’s Regional Transport Aircraft program. Embraer said the partnership covers developing, manufacturing and sustaining that ecosystem in India. (embraer.com) ### What can be said, and what cannot yet be said? The verified record shows four separate industrial tracks: aluminum assessment with Hindalco, forged materials supply with Bharat Forge, C-390 industrial cooperation with Mahindra, and a proposed E175 assembly ecosystem with Adani. Embraer’s own statements support the idea that India is being positioned as a broader supplier and support base across multiple programs. (embraer.com) The public documents do not yet provide plant timelines, investment values, output targets or a firm launch date for an E175 final assembly line. The next concrete markers are likely to be production awards, facility announcements or Indian government program decisions involving the C-390 and the Regional Transport Aircraft effort, with Embraer, Adani, Mahindra, Hindalco and Bharat Forge already named in the current set of agreements. (embraer.com 1) (embraer.com 2)