PUNE: A crucial solid propellant booster of BrahMos, the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile, will now be manufactured in India enabling the government to save crores of rupees, a senior official of Defence Research and Development Organisation said on Wednesday.

"The DRDO will sign an agreement of transfer of technology (ToT) with a Nagpur-based private company for mass production of the boosters during a defence industry development meet at Chennai on Thursday. Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hand over the ToT to the company," the official said.

The DRDO's city-based High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) has developed the booster of the missile with a close coordination with Russian counterpart. Interestingly, the missile was successfully fired for the first time from Indian Air Force's Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet in the Bay of Bengal in November last year.

A senior HEMRL scientist, who didn't wish to divulge his identity, told TOI, "Currently, India imports about 35 boosters annually and the demand for the booster is going to be high as IAF will induct more missiles on its fighter jets in the near future. Since the booster will be indigenously made, the maintenance will be timely as well as cost effective," he said, adding that India spends about 15% of the budget on importing the booster from the Russian counterpart.

HEMRL director K P S Murthy said, "We have carried out all the requisite tests of the booster. The results of the tests were positive and validated by Russian experts positively."