CSL lays keel for Navy’s next-gen missile vessels
Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) laid the keel of the first Next Generation Missile Vessel (NGMV) for the Indian Navy at its Kochi facility
Steel cutting for the second NGMV in the six-ship series was undertaken a day earlier at the same yard
The vessels are envisaged as high-speed platforms fitted with a surface-to-surface missile system, an anti-missile defence system, and air-surveillance and fire-control radars
The keel-laying and steel-cutting milestones mark continued progress on a contract signed between the Ministry of Defence and CSL in March 2023
Next Generation Missile Vessel (NGMV) Programme
The NGMV programme is a six-ship Indian Navy project to build fast, missile-armed surface combatants intended to replace the Navy's ageing Veer-class and Khukri-class missile corvettes, which are approaching the end of their operational service life.
Key Details
- The programme was pursued under the "Buy (Indian)/Buy and Make (Indian)" acquisition category of the defence procurement framework, prioritising Indian design and manufacture
- The Ministry of Defence contract with CSL for six NGMVs is valued at approximately Rs 9,805 crore, signed in March 2023
- NGMVs are designed for maritime strike and anti-surface warfare roles, and are intended to give the Navy sea-denial capability at strategically important maritime choke points
- Deliveries under the contract are scheduled to commence from 2027, with the first vessel (yard number BY 531) having its keel laid in September 2026
The keel-laying of the first NGMV hull is the formal start-of-construction milestone for the lead ship of this six-vessel programme, following roughly three years of design and pre-construction work after contract signing.
Cochin Shipyard Limited — India's Largest Shipbuilding PSU
Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) is a central public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, established as India's first Greenfield shipbuilding yard and now its largest shipbuilding and ship-repair facility.
Key Details
- CSL was incorporated in 1972 as a wholly government-owned company, following site selection studies that identified Kochi as the location for India's first Greenfield shipyard
- The Government of India holds approximately 75.21% of CSL's equity following the company's stock market listing (IPO, FY2018) and a subsequent share buyback (FY2019); it remains a listed, majority government-owned PSU
- CSL builds and repairs some of the largest vessels constructed in India, and has separately built India's first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, commissioned in 2022
- Other major Indian warship-building yards include Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (Mumbai) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (Kolkata), giving India multiple indigenous warship production lines under the Ministry of Defence's shipbuilding vision
CSL's selection to build the NGMV series, alongside its recent delivery of India's first indigenous aircraft carrier, reflects the yard's expanding role beyond commercial shipbuilding into frontline naval combatant construction.
Indigenisation of Naval Shipbuilding — Warship Design and Procurement Framework
Indian naval shipbuilding since the 1960s has progressively shifted from imported/foreign-designed platforms to indigenously designed vessels, with in-house naval design bureaus and domestic shipyards now building the vast majority of the Navy's surface combatants.
Key Details
- The Navy's in-house Directorate of Naval Design conceives warship designs that are then built at public and, increasingly, private Indian shipyards under "Buy (Indian)" and "Buy and Make (Indian)" categories of the defence procurement framework
- Government policy documents cite indigenous content levels above 75% by value for many recent warship classes, as part of the broader Aatmanirbhar Bharat push in defence production
- The NGMV programme's emphasis on domestically sourced missile, radar, and sensor systems is consistent with the Positive Indigenisation Lists issued by the Ministry of Defence, which bar import of specified categories of defence platforms and components after notified timelines
The NGMV keel-laying is one instance of a broader, ongoing shift in which nearly all current Indian Navy surface combatant construction — corvettes, frigates, and now next-generation missile vessels — takes place at domestic yards to indigenous designs.
- Programme size: six Next Generation Missile Vessels (NGMVs)
- Contract value: approximately Rs 9,805 crore; signed with CSL in March 2023
- First vessel: yard number BY 531; keel laid 18 September 2026 at CSL, Kochi
- Deliveries scheduled to commence: 2027
- CSL incorporated: 1972; Government of India equity holding: approximately 75.21%
- Vessels replace: Veer-class and Khukri-class missile corvettes