MoD Signs Rs 53,866-Crore Contracts With GRSE and GSL for Eight Next-Generation Corvettes

The Ministry of Defence has signed contracts worth Rs 53,866.50 crore with Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited and Goa Shipyard Limited for eight Next Generation Corvettes for the Indian Navy, in one of the largest indigenous warship orders placed with domestic yards. The agreements were inked in the presence of Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh at Kartavya Bhawan-2 in New Delhi on 2 November 2026, less than a week after the Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the project.

Under the split, Kolkata-based GRSE will build five vessels and Goa Shipyard will construct the remaining three. GRSE had emerged as the lowest bidder in May last year.

The Navy’s stated mission set for these ships places merchant shipping squarely in the picture. The ministry said the corvettes would enhance the service’s ability to safeguard maritime trade routes, conduct anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare, strengthen coastal defence, undertake littoral combat operations and carry out maritime presence and surveillance missions.

That framing matters for India’s sea lines of communication, the routes that carry the bulk of the country’s oil imports, container trade and bulk cargo. Multi-role escort and patrol capacity along these lanes is a direct input into the security environment that commercial shipping, port operators and marine insurers price into their operations.

This story was originally published by Maritime Gateway. Read the full story at Maritime Gateway →