Delhi-based Optiemus Infracom will soon begin to manufacture BlackBerry handsets for India and the neighbouring markets of Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. According to a licensing agreement signed with the Canadian tech major, the Indian company will also design, sell, promote and provide customer support for BlackBerry-branded Android mobile devices, The Indian Express reported.

Senior Vice President for Mobility Solutions at BlackBerry Alex Thurber said the company was “delighted” by the agreement as it would “extend the BlackBerry software experience to more customers and support the Indian government’s Make In India agenda”. “Optiemus Infracom Ltd is the ideal partner to design and manufacture trusted BlackBerry-secure Android handsets for customers in India and neighboring markets,” Thurber said.

Optiemus Chairman Ashok Gupta said the partnership will help his company “expand mobility choices”. “We are confident that our journey with BlackBerry will be a long and successful one,” Gupta said. In November 2016, the two companies had partnered for the distribution and sale of BlackBerry’s DTEK50 and DTEK60 smartphones.

BlackBerry adopted a licensing approach to manufacture its smartphones after closing its own hardware division in September 2016. The company has since partnered with China’s TCL to manufacture the DTEK50 and DTEK60 models and the upcoming Mercury handset. BlackBerry released its first Android handset, the Priv, in 2015.