India poised to become global shipbuilding hub: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh

Kolkata: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in Kolkata on Sunday that India is poised to become a global shipbuilding hub, with focus on design, manufacturing & Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) and the country can capture the “global vacuum”.

“There is a global vacuum as shipbuilding has declined in traditional countries like the UK, Netherlands and France and the vacuum is witnessed in three segments-the design, manufacturing, Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO). This is the golden period that India can capture and we will capture it, Singh said.

“If we consider growing global demand, declining traditional shipbuilding capacity in various countries and rapidly changing technology—a global shipbuilding vacuum is being created,” Singh said.


“India will become a global ship manufacturing hub and can excel in the Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) segment. If we become the hub for ship repair and overhaul in the Indian Ocean Region, along with foreign exchange, we can also generate employment opportunities in the thousands,” Singh said.

Calling MRO “a low hanging fruit”, Singh said that MRO does not require very high capital investment nor does it require a huge workforce. “The prolonged time and massive money required to build a ship is not needed in MRO. We can do many things in MRO and GRSE must focus on this area,” Singh said.

In MRO-what is required is simply quality, discipline, and a reliable timeline, he added.

Speaking about the design segment, Singh said the traditional shipbuilding nations who once held the design monopoly, but today it is gradually “diminishing”.

Singh, with West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, presided over the Bhumi Pujan ceremony for three expansion projects of Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) and two of Yantra India Limited (YIL), worth a total investment of approximately Rs 3,500 crore, virtually from GRSE Bhavan in Kolkata today.

Speaking on the occasion, Adhikari alleged that previous governments in West Bengal did not work with the Centre for development of the state.

"Earlier governments in West Bengal did not work with the Centre for development of the state. The negativity of 50 years has ended, and our double-engine government will now ensure that the state advances," CM asserted.

The GRSE facilities at Kidderpore in Kolkata, Shalimar in Howrah, and Raichak in South 24-Parganas will bolster the country’s shipbuilding and ship repair capabilities, while the projects at YIL’s Metal and Steel Factory in Ishapore will strengthen indigenous metallurgical and production capabilities.

The traditional shipbuilding countries like the UK, Netherlands, and France, which had built their colonies during the colonial era entirely on the strength of their shipbuilding, Singh pointed out, while speaking on India’s manufacturing opportunities.

However, in recent decades, Singh stressed that these countries have gradually been reducing their shipbuilding capacity. “In the recent days, their shipbuilding capacity is steadily declining. There are several reasons behind this—rising labour costs, the younger generation not entering this sector, a focus on frontier technologies and the inability to modernize older shipyards,” the union minister.

“If we modernize our manufacturing capacity and work according to global quality standards, India will become the next big shipbuilding hub of the world. Our naval strength is expanding fast and the challenges to maritime security are also increasing.

“India has a large number of young engineers, IT talent, capabilities in automation and artificial intelligence and manufacturing capacity to become global. We can become a world-class ship design hub. We must not just build ships based on others' designs, but create our own new designs, patent them, and export them to the world,” the Defence minister said.

“Even today, warships built in India are helping secure our energy supply by passing through conflict zones.”

Pointing at the "capacity paradox", Singh said the concept of the capacity paradox helps understand a major transformation currently underway in the world of shipbuilding. “The demand for ships is constantly increasing across the world. Whether they are naval ships, commercial cargo vessels, oil tankers, logistic ships, fishing vessels, pollution control vessels or offshore platforms, demand is rising in every single category. Maritime trade is also growing rapidly,” he said.

Appreciating GRSE, he said, "GRSE has constructed over 800 vessels to date. Even the next-generation offshore patrol vessels, currently under construction, will feature more than 80 percent indigenous content. This demonstrates that we are rapidly reducing our dependence on foreign sources". He congratulated the shipyard for achieving the ‘Navratna’ status.