Govt inks ₹53,866-crore deal with Garden Reach, Goa Shipyard for 8 advanced Navy warships

In a major push to indigenous warship manufacturing, the Defence Ministry on Monday signed contracts worth ₹53,866.50 crore with two defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) for the construction of eight Next Generation Corvettes for the Indian Navy.

Under the contracts, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE) will build five corvettes, while Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) will construct the remaining three.

The contracts were signed in the presence of Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh at Kartavya Bhawan-2 in New Delhi.

The project marks the first instance of warships being indigenously designed by the Indian Navy and awarded for construction to DPSUs selected through a competitive process, the Defence Ministry said in statement.

The Next Generation Corvettes will be equipped with advanced missiles, weapons and sensor suites, enabling them to undertake operations across air, surface and sub-surface domains.

“The induction of these ships will significantly enhance the Indian Navy’s operational capabilities in safeguarding maritime trade routes, conducting anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare operations, strengthening coastal defence, undertaking littoral combat operations, and carrying out maritime presence and surveillance missions,” the ministry said.

The project is also expected to provide a boost to the domestic defence manufacturing ecosystem, with participation from private shipyards, Indian industrial partners and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

According to the ministry, construction of the eight warships is expected to generate around 72 lakh person-days of employment in the shipyards and 460 lakh person-days in ancillary industries and MSMEs over the next 10 years.