Rajnath Singh lays foundation for ₹3,500-crore expansion of GRSE, YIL facilities in West Bengal

Kolkata, August 23. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday laid the foundation for five major expansion projects of defence public sector undertakings Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) and Yantra India Limited (YIL), involving a combined investment of around ₹3,500 crore ($366 million), with the government saying the projects will strengthen India’s indigenous defence manufacturing and shipbuilding capabilities.

Singh, along with West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, presided virtually from GRSE Bhavan in Kolkata over the Bhumi Pujan ceremonies for three GRSE projects and two projects at YIL’s Metal and Steel Factory (MSF) in Ishapore.

The GRSE projects at Kidderpore in Kolkata, Shalimar in Howrah and Raichak in South 24-Parganas are aimed at expanding India’s capacity for shipbuilding and ship repair. The YIL projects at Ishapore will strengthen the domestic production of specialised metals and components required for defence and strategic industries.

Addressing the ceremony, Singh said the projects would give further impetus to the government’s ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ (Self-reliant India), ‘Make in India’ and ‘Make for the World’ initiatives in defence production.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emphasis on self-reliance in the defence sector during his Independence Day address, Singh said India needed to develop sufficient indigenous capabilities to avoid dependence on foreign countries for critical defence requirements.

He described the five projects as part of the government’s effort to strengthen India’s strategic autonomy, while also generating employment and creating opportunities for micro, small and medium enterprises and other industries associated with the defence manufacturing ecosystem.

“These projects are heralding a new chapter in West Bengal’s socio-economic progress,” Singh said, according to the Defence Ministry.

Operation Sindoor highlighted

The Defence Minister cited Operation Sindoor as demonstrating the importance of indigenous weapons and platforms and said the performance of Indian defence systems had attracted international attention.

He said defence laboratories, public sector undertakings and private companies, working with the Ministry of Defence, would need to accelerate efforts to equip the armed forces with domestically developed and manufactured platforms.

Singh described self-reliance as more than a policy objective, saying it could directly enhance India’s battlefield capabilities. He identified GRSE and YIL as important contributors to this effort.

GRSE expanding shipbuilding and repair capacity

Singh praised GRSE’s contribution to indigenous warship construction, highlighting the guided-missile frigate INS Dunagiri and the shipyard’s record of having built more than 800 vessels.

He noted that next-generation offshore patrol vessels currently under construction at GRSE are expected to contain more than 80 percent indigenous content, which he said reflected India’s efforts to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers.

The Defence Minister also congratulated GRSE on attaining Navratna status.

Under its expansion programme, GRSE has entered into lease agreements with Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata, for two previously underused shipyard facilities on the Hooghly and a 32-acre riverside site at Raichak.

The new facilities are intended to expand GRSE’s ability to build and repair warships as well as small and medium-sized commercial vessels.

The largest of the projects is the development of the Raichak facility, for which GRSE plans to invest more than ₹2,500 crore. The site has a 356-metre waterfront, an existing 96-metre jetty and a water depth of between eight and 10 metres.

The proposed facility will be capable of constructing warships of up to 200 metres in length and commercial vessels of up to 60,000 deadweight tonnes.

The planned infrastructure includes a 200-metre dry dock, a 200-metre slipway, a 200-metre ship-launching facility, two jetties, block fabrication and consolidation facilities, hull repair workshops and supporting administrative infrastructure.

Shalimar and Kidderpore facilities

At Timber Pond in Shalimar, Howrah, GRSE plans to invest nearly ₹100 crore to revive an existing facility and develop it into a shipbuilding and repair centre for medium-sized vessels.

The four-acre site, leased from the port authority for 30 years, contains a deteriorated dry dock and around 88 metres of waterfront.

The redevelopment plan includes restoration of the 130-metre dry dock, construction of a 120-metre slipway, shoreline protection and installation of a dry-dock gate and gantry crane. Facilities for block fabrication, workshops and storage will also be established.

At Kidderpore Docks in Kolkata, GRSE has acquired an old workshop and a 25-metre waterfront facility known as the Damodar on a 30-year lease.

The shipyard intends to invest around ₹70 crore to develop the facility for repairing medium-sized vessels and building electric ferries and other small craft.

The expansion of these facilities is intended to strengthen different stages of GRSE’s shipbuilding and repair value chain and provide the company with additional capacity as demand for naval and commercial vessels grows.

India could become major global shipbuilding hub: Rajnath

Singh also used the occasion to argue that India has an opportunity to establish itself as a major global shipbuilding centre.

He pointed to what he termed an emerging “capacity paradox” in the international shipbuilding industry: global demand for both naval and commercial vessels is increasing while several traditional shipbuilding countries are experiencing declining capacity.

Technological change and the shrinking availability of design and manufacturing capabilities in some established shipbuilding nations, he said, could create opportunities for India in ship design, construction and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO).

Singh said India’s pool of engineers and IT professionals, together with its capabilities in simulation and artificial intelligence, could be used to develop indigenous ship designs, secure intellectual property and eventually export those designs.

On the manufacturing side, he pointed to India’s skilled workforce, steel industry and extensive MSME network as advantages, while calling for modernisation of shipyards and adherence to international quality standards.

He also identified ship repair and MRO as an area in which India could make relatively rapid gains.

According to Singh, establishing India as a major MRO hub in the Indian Ocean region would require quality, reliability and timely delivery rather than the kind of large capital investments associated with establishing new shipbuilding capacity. Such a hub could reduce India’s foreign-exchange outgo while creating employment.

He said the Raichak facility’s ability to construct vessels up to 200 metres could enable GRSE to compete for future destroyer programmes, while the Timber Pond and Damodar facilities would reinforce the shipyard’s wider shipbuilding and repair capabilities.

YIL to modernise critical forging capacity

The two projects at YIL’s Metal and Steel Factory in Ishapore involve a combined investment of more than ₹750 crore and are aimed at modernising India’s production of specialised forgings and strategic components.

The first is a 3,000-tonne Heavy Duty Hydraulic Open Die Forging Press, equipped with two integrated rail-mounted manipulators.

The new press will replace a 2,650-tonne unit that has been operating since 1976. It is expected to be completed within 26 months and will support the production of gun barrels, ammunition components and other heavy defence forgings.

The Defence Ministry estimates that the new facility could generate annual savings of around ₹25.58 crore through reduced downtime and maintenance costs, while supporting an annual turnover of about ₹500 crore.

The second project is a Radial Forging Plant, involving an investment of approximately ₹473.84 crore and a planned implementation period of 30 months.

The facility will introduce radial forging technology at MSF Ishapore and is intended to manufacture super-alloy forgings, hollow tubes for aerial bombs, components for future ordnance systems, high-strength railway axles and nuclear reactor components.

The plant will incorporate Industry 4.0 technologies and energy-efficient manufacturing processes, with the government projecting annual profits of around ₹69 crore and a payback period of approximately six years.

According to the Defence Ministry, the facility is expected to reduce India’s dependence on imports for specialised forgings and components used in defence and strategic infrastructure.

Focus on global markets

Singh said the expansion of India’s defence manufacturing base would have implications beyond the armed forces, including savings in foreign exchange, greater industrial activity and employment generation.

He urged GRSE to use its expanded capacity to compete more aggressively in both domestic and international markets and called for Indian manufacturers to combine competitive pricing with globally trusted quality and reliable delivery schedules.

He framed this as a shift in India’s approach to defence manufacturing – from asking what the country needs to purchase from abroad to identifying what international markets can purchase from India.

The Defence Minister also called for closer participation by defence PSUs, private industry, MSMEs and academic institutions to build an integrated defence manufacturing ecosystem.

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari described the foundation ceremony as a landmark event for the state, saying the projects would strengthen GRSE and YIL while contributing to the revival of West Bengal’s industrial sector.

He also highlighted the potential for the projects to create employment and generate business for ancillary industries and MSMEs.

Senior officials present at the ceremony included West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Agarwal, Defence Production Secretary Sanjeev Kumar, GRSE Chairman and Managing Director Commodore PR Hari and YIL Chairman and Managing Director Vijaykumar Iyer, besides officials from the Department of Defence Production and the two companies.

The five projects, taken together, represent a significant expansion of India’s capacity across the shipbuilding, ship repair, forging and strategic manufacturing segments and are intended to strengthen the domestic industrial base supporting the country’s long-term defence self-reliance objectives.