New Delhi, Nov 2: India’s naval combat fleet is set to receive eight next-generation corvettes under contracts worth ₹53,866.50 crore signed by the Defence Ministry with two public sector shipbuilders, with the project placing indigenous warship design and construction at the centre of a major defence procurement programme.
The contracts with Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) and Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) cover the construction of five and three corvettes, respectively. Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh was present when the agreements were signed in New Delhi on Monday, according to an official statement.
The project marks the first instance in which the Indian Navy will design the vessels indigenously, while Defence Public Sector Undertakings selected through a competitive process will undertake their construction. The arrangement brings naval design and domestic shipbuilding capabilities together under a single procurement programme.
The vessels will carry advanced missiles, weapons and sensor systems, enabling operations across air, surface and sub-surface domains. The Navy is expected to deploy them for maritime surveillance, coastal defence, littoral combat and anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare.
Their induction is also intended to strengthen the Navy’s ability to protect maritime trade routes and maintain a sustained presence at sea, the Defence Ministry said.
Beyond the military requirements, the programme is projected to generate around 72 lakh person-days of employment at the shipyards over the next decade. Ancillary industries and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are expected to account for another 460 lakh person-days during the same period.
The employment projections underline the scale of industrial activity expected from the contracts, which the ministry said would support the domestic shipbuilding ecosystem and advance self-reliance in defence manufacturing.
The agreement follows a separate round of defence procurement approvals in October, when the government cleared capital acquisition proposals worth approximately ₹2.12 lakh crore for the armed forces. Nearly 82 per cent of the proposed procurement was earmarked for sourcing from Indian industry.
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, granted Acceptance of Necessity (AoN), or in-principle administrative approval, to the proposals. The approvals covered various capital acquisition requirements of the defence forces.
