It may perhaps be one of the lesser known milestones in independent India’s history in general—14 years after freedom, the nation got a warship built in the country. The first seaward defence boat, named ‘Ajay’, was delivered in 1961 by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), a Kolkata company that started off about a century ago as a workshop for steam boats on the Hooghly, and had been taken over by the Government of India just the year before.
GRSE and Ajay reached a full circle last year, when in July, the shipyard launched the last in its Ajay series—an anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft.
GRSE has proved its mettle over the years, building over 800 platforms of all kinds, including 115 warships—77 of these went to the Indian Navy. The company documented its milestones and exemplary track record in the coffee table book Adi, Anant, Adwitiya as the Bhagirathi, which was unveiled at THE WEEK-GRSE ‘Sagar Sankalp’ Maritime Conclave in Kolkata in March.
“This book is not merely a chronicle of a shipyard; it is a testament to India’s journey toward becoming a global maritime powerhouse,” said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. “With over 90 per cent indigenous content in several of its recent platforms, GRSE embodies the spirit of ‘Make in India, Make for the World’.”
A Schedule A Mini Ratna, GRSE has delivered more warships than any other Indian shipyard—providing the Indian Navy and Coast Guard a versatile fleet, from stealth frigates to advanced survey vessels. “Every ship reflects our commitment to maritime engineering and tactical superiority,” said Commodore P.R. Hari (retired), chairman & managing director of GRSE.
The company is now scaling up to take on the new geopolitical realities and requirements, with innovations taking it into realms of artificial intelligence, robotics and virtual reality. Robots now paint, while an AI-enabled welding helmet is in an advanced stage of development to provide real time quality control support to welders by displaying welding parameters and alerts.
The new technology paradigm also extends itself to creating new fighting machines, including autonomous vehicles for the Navy. This includes the likes of Swadheen and Jaldoot, both unmanned surface vessels (USV) while another innovation has been Neerakshi, an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) prototype. It is also on an ambitious development trajectory in association with a startup to indigenously build a ship-based drone that can operate day and night without manual intervention to provide surveillance videos.
“Our vision is tethered to the goal of a developed India by 2047,” said Hari. “We are transitioning from make in India to design, develop and export from India. With a healthy order book and an appetite for taking on challenges, we are expanding into international markets to establish India as a premier global shipbuilding hub.”