In an effort to jointly create cutting-edge maritime capabilities, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has urged international partners to work with the country’s expanding shipbuilding sector.
Speaking at the Department of Defence Production’s Samudra Utkarsh conference, Singh characterized India as a dynamic, competent, and future-ready maritime power. He emphasized that these collaborations might promote resilient supply chains, sustainable technology, and a safe maritime future globally.
The shipbuilding industry in India has developed into a complete, end-to-end value chain. Thousands of MSMEs, vibrant private companies, and public sector shipyards are all integrated into this network. It takes care of everything from vessel design and construction to lifetime support, outfitting, refitting, and repairs. Singh stated that India now creates not just ships, but trust; not only platforms, but enduring partnerships.
Important accomplishments highlight this development. Among the flagship projects are destroyers, stealth frigates, Kalvari-class submarines, and the domestic aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. Indian shipyards have demonstrated advanced automation, world-class systems integration, and technological maturity. Currently, 262 indigenous design and development projects are under the Indian Navy’s supervision, several of which are in advanced stages.
Within the next ten years, a number of shipyards are expected to achieve 100% indigenous content. This milestone is expected to guarantee continuous manufacturing and lessen dependency on international supply chains. Singh highlighted the sector’s expansion into commercial and dual-use maritime domains, producing high-end passenger vessels, research ships, pollution-control vessels, coastal ferries, and even the world’s most advanced deep-sea mining support vessel for ISRO and the National Institute of Ocean Technology.
An important factor in this expansion is the private sector. For both local and foreign customers, companies are building roll-on/roll-off ships, green-fuel and LNG-powered vessels, and other high-efficiency platforms.
Singh claimed that during the next ten years, Indian shipyards could produce anything from aircraft carriers to cutting-edge research vessels and energy-efficient commercial ships, establishing India as a possible global center for shipbuilding, repair, and maritime innovation.
All of the Indian Navy’s and Coast Guard’s ships are being built locally. The Maritime India Vision 2030, Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy, and the Defence Procurement Manual 2025 are only a few of the revolutionary policy changes that have led to this independence. These measures have hastened the sector’s evolutionIndian shipyards are essential to the country’s developing Blue Economy. Throughout India’s vast coastline and Exclusive Economic Zone, they manufacture vessels that are vital for marine research, environmental monitoring, fisheries management, and maritime law enforcement. In order to create climate-resilient practices, the industry is moving toward sustainability and integrating green technologies, hybrid propulsion, and digital shipyard systems.
Indian expertise is becoming more and more in demand worldwide. Increasingly, foreign ships come to Indian yards for intricate refits, indicating confidence in the nation’s dependability, competence, and affordability. Singh stated his aspirations to make India the Indo-Pacific region’s go-to source for food and repairs.
The seminar’s topic, “2500 BCE – 2025 CE: Celebrating 4,524 Years of Shipbuilding Excellence,” pays tribute to India’s rich nautical history. This tradition continues and changes, from the dockyards of Lothal in the Indus Valley Civilization to contemporary facilities in Mumbai, Goa, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, and Kochi.
Sanjeev Kumar, Secretary (Defense Production), reaffirmed these ideas by referring to Indian shipyards as “pillars of industrial strength and self-reliance.” Over the past decade, they have merged digital technologies, automation, and worldwide best practices. For both defense and commercial shipping demands, India today provides an unparalleled combination of capabilities, quality, and geographic advantage.
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