On Saturday, Rolls-Royce Marine North America said it had signed a preliminary agreement with Pune-based Bharat Forge subsidiary Kalyani Strategic Service Ltd (KSSL) for naval marine propulsion.

The agreement may include, but is not limited to, design and development, license manufacturing, pre-sales and sales support; installation, commissioning, testing and aftermarket service and support, Rolls-Royce said in a statement.

Kalyani Strategic Service Ltd (KSSL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharat Forge in Pune.

The statement said that Rolls-Royce’s propulsion systems are designed to be used on all modern warships, and the company is one of the leading suppliers to the US Navy.

The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore opportunities for Kalyani Strategic Service to become a domestic supplier for propeller sales in the Indian market.

Rolls-Royce said the new agreement is expected to create a local supply chain ecosystem for controllable pitch propellers and shafting in India.

Kishore Jayaraman, President of Rolls-Royce India and South Asia, said the partnership with Kalyani Strategic Service Ltd and Bharat Forge would further strengthen the company’s defence ecosystem in India.

Baba Kalyani, chairman of Kalyani Group, said that Bharat Forge is making significant progress towards localising critical systems and subsystems of the armed forces.