Mohammad Asif Khan

At the inauguration ceremony of the Global Maritime Summit in Mumbai on 17 October 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted India's ambitions in the naval shipbuilding sector. He said, “INS Vikrant is proof of India’s shipbuilding capacity. India will become one of the top five naval shipbuilding nations in the coming decade. Our mantra is ‘Make in India, Make for the World’. The government is working to bring together all stakeholders in the sector through maritime clusters. Naval shipbuilding and repair centres will be developed at many places.”

India’s ambition to become a significant player in global naval shipbuilding is evident, yet the reality presents numerous challenges. As of 2024, India accounts for a modest share of the global naval shipbuilding industry, trailing far behind leaders like the United States, China and Russia. The country has several shipyards, with only a handful under the central public sector and state governments, and the majority in the private sector. Indian naval shipyards contribute to a relatively small portion of the global naval shipbuilding capacity, hindered by high financing costs, bureaucratic inefficiencies and the smaller scale of operations. This makes it challenging to compete with larger international players on price and efficiency.

The decline in India’s global naval shipbuilding market share from the early 2000s to its current state can be attributed to several factors. A significant challenge has been the difficulty in securing large international orders and the heavy reliance on imported materials, which make up about 65 per cent of the inputs for naval shipbuilding