The Defence Ministry today signed contracts worth Rs 53,866.50 crore with Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE) and Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) for the acquisition of eight Next Generation Corvettes (NGCs) for the Indian Navy. 

The contracts were signed in the presence of Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh in New Delhi, an official MoD release said.

Under the contracts, GRSE will construct five corvettes, while GSL will construct the remaining three. 

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 Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) selected through a competitive process, the Defence Ministry said.

“Great news for India’s indigenous shipbuilding ecosystem. 

The Next Generation Corvettes (NGCs) project for the Indian Navy will provide a significant impetus to India’s shipbuilding sector by strengthening collaboration among DPSUs, private shipyards and Indian industrial partners, including MSMEs,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in a post on X following the contract signing.

The NGCs will be equipped with state-of-the-art capabilities, including advanced missiles, weapons and sensor suites, enabling them to undertake missions across the air, surface and sub-surface domains. 

The induction of the ships would significantly enhance the 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, the MoD said.

The NGC 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 ten years, the official statement added.