Bell Helicopter has signed a pact with India’s Dynamatic Technologies Ltd. (DTL) to explore the possibility of a helicopter cabin assembly partnership.

Under the memorandum of understanding (MoU), the U.S.-based company will evaluate establishing Dynamatic as a subcontractor for the assembly of the airframe cabin for its 407 helicopters, as well as airframe components and details.

“The estimated business volume of the work proposed is approximately $243 million over a 10-year period,” Bridget Bishop, communications analyst at Bell Helicopter, tells Aviation Week.

The two parties still must discuss procurement, price and delivery schedules, Bishop says. However, “the agreement is not a commitment that Bell Helicopter will place orders with DTL. Any decision to move forward will depend upon Bell Helicopter’s needs and DTL’s capability, quality, capacity, price, and delivery schedules,” Bishop says.

According to Bell, one of the purposes for placing this work with DTL is that it can claim the value for current or future offset obligations in India.

“This is an important step forward in expanding our customer service, engineering and manufacturing capabilities in India,” says Rishi Malhotra, Bell’s general manager in India. “India represents a significant growth opportunity for both sales and manufacturing.”

Dynamatic has started trial production of airframe components and detailed parts, the company says.

Commercial production is scheduled to start soon at DTL’s aeronautic manufacturing facilities near Bengaluru in the last quarter of 2013.

The Bell is powered by a Rolls-Royce 250-C47B turbine FADEC engine, which has the ability to cruise at 140 kt. (259 km/hr.). The 407’s cabin seats up to five passengers in club-passenger seating and can be reconfigured to accommodate a number of tasks and payloads.