New Delhi: The Ministry of Defence has signed contracts worth Rs 53,866.50 crore with Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) and Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) for the construction of eight Next Generation Corvettes (NGCs) for the Indian Navy.
The contracts were signed in the presence of Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh at Kartavya Bhawan-2 in New Delhi on November 2. Under the agreement, GRSE will construct five corvettes, while GSL will build the remaining three.
The project marks a significant step in indigenous warship design and construction. For the first time, the ships will be designed by the Indian Navy and built by Defence Public Sector Undertakings selected through a competitive process.
Advanced Capabilities for Maritime Operations
The Next Generation Corvettes will feature advanced missiles, weapons and sensor systems, enabling operations across air, surface and sub-surface domains.
Their induction is expected to strengthen the Navy’s ability to protect maritime trade routes, conduct anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare, reinforce coastal defence and undertake littoral combat operations. The ships will also support maritime surveillance and sustained presence missions.
Boost to Indigenous Shipbuilding and Employment
The project is expected to strengthen India's domestic shipbuilding ecosystem through greater participation by DPSUs, private shipyards and Indian industrial partners, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Over the next ten years, construction is projected to generate around 72 lakh person-days of employment in the shipyards and another 460 lakh person-days in ancillary industries and MSMEs.
With an emphasis on Made-in-India materials, equipment and technologies, the project is expected to deepen domestic industrial capabilities and support the government's push for self-reliance in defence manufacturing under the Make in India initiative.
