Defence Minister Rajnath Singh joined West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari to perform the bhumi pujan for five brownfield expansion projects of Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) and Yantra India Limited (YIL) this week. These five projects have a combined investment of about ₹3,500 crore.
Three of the projects are at GRSE’s new and existing sites along the Hooghly, while two large metallurgical facilities will come up at YIL’s Metal and Steel Factory in Ishapore.
For the maritime sector, the centrepiece is GRSE’s 32‑acre plot at Raichak, with a 356‑metre waterfront, existing jetty and 8–10‑metre draught that the company plans to turn into a modern shipbuilding hub with an outlay of over ₹2,500 crore.
The yard is being designed to construct warships up to 200 metres long and commercial vessels of up to 60,000 deadweight tonnes, alongside a 200‑metre dry dock, slipway, launching pad, two jetties and block‑fabrication and repair shops.
Two smaller sites—Timber Pond at Shalimar and the Damodar facility at Kidderpore docks—are said to be upgraded for repair of medium‑sized ships, electric ferries and other small craft.
At the event, the Defence Minister underlined an emerging “capacity paradox” in world shipbuilding. He said that there is a rising demand for naval and commercial vessels, but yards were shrinking in their “traditional centres”. This meant that it was “a golden opportunity for India to emerge as a global shipbuilding hub.”
Calling maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) a “low‑hanging fruit” for the country, Singh argued that a focus on quality and timelines could turn India into a repair hub for the wider Indian Ocean region.
The YIL investments, worth more than ₹750 crore, include installing a 3,000‑tonne open‑die forging press and a new radial forging plant at Ishapore, replacing 1970s‑era equipment and supporting forgings for naval guns, advanced weapons, railways and nuclear components.
The plants are projected to support annual turnover of around ₹500 crore, generating ₹69 crore in profit, all the while reducing dependence on imported strategic forgings.
