Panaji: The ministry of defence has signed contracts worth Rs 53,866.5 crore with Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE) and Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) for the acquisition of eight next-generation corvettes for the Indian Navy. Under the contracts, GRSE will construct five corvettes, while GSL will construct the remaining three for approximately Rs 20,000 crore.This project represents the largest order ever secured by GSL.The contracts were inked in Delhi on Monday in the presence of defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh. The project marks a significant milestone in India’s indigenous warship design and construction capabilities, as it is the first project in which the ships will be indigenously designed by the Indian Navy and constructed by PSU shipyards selected through a competitive process.The corvettes will be equipped with advanced missiles, weapons and sensor suites, enabling them to undertake missions across the air, surface and sub-surface domains. The induction of these ships will significantly enhance the Indian Navy’s operational capabilities in safeguarding maritime trade routes, conducting anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare operations, strengthening coastal defence, undertaking littoral combat operations, and carrying out maritime presence and surveillance missions, said the ministry of defence in a statement.The warship project will provide a significant impetus to India’s indigenous shipbuilding ecosystem by strengthening collaboration among DPSUs, private shipyards and Indian industrial partners, including MSMEs. The construction of these ships is expected to generate approximately 72 lakh person-days of employment in the shipyards and 460 lakh person-days in ancillary industries and MSMEs over the next 10 years.
