‘India can become global shipbuilding hub…’: Rajnath Singh as he pushes for ‘Aatmanirbharta’
The Ministry of Defence virtually laid the foundation stone for five expansion projects worth nearly ₹3,500 crore at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) and Yantra India Ltd, spanning facilities in Kolkata (Kidderpore, Shalimar) and Raichak in West Bengal.
The occasion was used to assert that India has the potential to become a global shipbuilding hub, citing the country's large workforce, established steel industry, and capacity to rapidly adopt shipbuilding technology.
The Raichak facility alone is planned as a dedicated shipbuilding hub involving investment of over ₹2,500 crore.
The expansion was framed as advancing the government's Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India objectives in the defence manufacturing sector.
Aatmanirbhar Bharat in Defence Manufacturing
Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), launched in May 2020, includes defence manufacturing as a priority sector, aiming to reduce import dependence and build indigenous capability across platforms including warships, aircraft, and armoured vehicles. Defence procurement categorizes indigenization through preference categories under the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP).
Key Details
- DAP 2020 (Defence Acquisition Procedure) lays down a procurement preference hierarchy: Buy (Indian-IDDM) > Buy (Indian) > Buy and Make (Indian) > Buy (Global – Manufacture in India) > Buy (Global), with IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured) given the highest priority.
- The Ministry of Defence has notified multiple "Positive Indigenisation Lists" of defence items (including naval platforms and components) that cannot be imported after specified timelines and must be sourced domestically.
- Since 2015, all warships and submarines for the Indian Navy and Coast Guard have been built exclusively in Indian shipyards, a policy continuity cited as evidence of the sector's self-reliance push.
The GRSE and Yantra India expansion projects are presented as direct capacity-building steps under Aatmanirbhar Bharat, aimed at scaling India's indigenous warship and defence-platform production capacity.
Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy and the Shipbuilding Development Scheme
The Union government approved a shipbuilding support package of ₹69,725 crore in 2025, comprising a revamped Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy (SBFAP) worth ₹24,736 crore and a new Shipbuilding Development Scheme worth ₹19,989 crore, aimed at expanding domestic shipyard capacity, both greenfield and brownfield, to 4.5 million Gross Tonnage (GT) annually.
Key Details
- Under the revamped SBFAP, eligible domestic shipyards (including GRSE) can receive financial assistance of roughly 15-25% of a vessel's contract value from the Centre.
- The scheme also promotes ship-recycling/ship-breaking capacity alongside new-build shipbuilding, and supports both defence and commercial shipbuilding orders.
- GRSE recently became the first Indian shipyard to win a domestic commercial shipbuilding order under the Centre's new "aggregate" tendering scheme, building four Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs) for ONGC.
The GRSE/Yantra India expansion announced fits within this broader financial-assistance and capacity-expansion framework designed to make Indian shipyards commercially competitive, not just for naval orders but also global and domestic commercial shipbuilding.
Maritime India Vision 2030 and Sagarmala Programme
Maritime India Vision 2030 (MIV 2030), launched in 2021, is India's comprehensive strategy to place India among the world's top ten maritime nations by 2030, encompassing over 150 initiatives across ports, shipbuilding, coastal shipping and inland waterways, requiring an estimated ₹3-3.5 lakh crore in investment. The Sagarmala Programme (launched 2015) is the flagship port-led development initiative under this vision.
Key Details
- Sagarmala has approved projects worth roughly ₹5.8 lakh crore, aimed at port modernisation, port connectivity, port-led industrialisation, and coastal community development.
- The government has also announced a ₹25,000 crore Maritime Development Fund (MDF), with up to 49% central government contribution, intended to catalyse further private and port-sector investment in the maritime sector.
- GRSE is a Mini Ratna Central Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Defence, specializing in warship and naval vessel construction; Yantra India Ltd is a defence PSU formed from the erstwhile Ordnance Factory Board specializing in engineering and mechanical equipment.
The shipbuilding hub ambition articulated alongside the GRSE/Yantra India expansion aligns with MIV 2030's broader target of scaling India's shipbuilding and maritime infrastructure capacity, connecting defence-sector shipbuilding growth to the wider commercial maritime strategy.
- Five GRSE/Yantra India expansion projects announced: worth nearly ₹3,500 crore, across Kidderpore, Shalimar and Raichak (West Bengal); Raichak facility alone over ₹2,500 crore.
- Shipbuilding support package (2025): ₹69,725 crore total — SBFAP (₹24,736 crore) + Shipbuilding Development Scheme (₹19,989 crore); target capacity 4.5 million GT/year.
- Financial assistance under SBFAP: roughly 15-25% of vessel contract value for eligible domestic shipyards.
- Maritime India Vision 2030: launched 2021, targets India among top 10 maritime nations by 2030, ~₹3-3.5 lakh crore investment across 150+ initiatives; Sagarmala Programme (2015) projects worth ~₹5.8 lakh crore.
- All Indian Navy and Coast Guard warships/submarines have been built in Indian shipyards since 2015; GRSE is a Mini Ratna defence PSU under the Ministry of Defence.