Defence Ministry Signs Contracts Worth Rs 53,866 Crore for Eight Next-Generation Naval Corvettes

The Ministry of Defence signed contracts on 2 November 2026 worth Rs 53,866.50 crore with Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers and Goa Shipyard Limited for eight Next Generation Corvettes for the Indian Navy.

GRSE will construct five ships and GSL the remaining three. Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh attended the signing. The project is the first in which the Navy has designed the vessels and defence public-sector undertakings selected through a competitive process will build them.

The corvettes will carry advanced missiles, weapons and sensor suites for air, surface and sub-surface missions. They are intended to strengthen anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare, coastal defence and littoral operations. The ships will complement the Navy’s existing Kamorta-class corvettes.

Construction is expected to generate roughly 72 lakh person-days of employment at the shipyards and another 460 lakh person-days in ancillary industries and MSMEs over ten years. The contracts require maximum use of Indian materials, equipment and technology.

A corvette is a fast, manoeuvrable warship smaller than a frigate, suited to coastal and near-sea duties. The Next Generation design incorporates indigenous combat systems developed under earlier Navy programmes. Delivery timelines were not detailed in the initial announcement, but similar projects typically span six to eight years from contract to commissioning.

The Cabinet Committee on Security had approved the project days earlier. The competitive selection of two shipyards marks a shift from single-yard allocation for major surface combatants. Both GRSE and GSL have prior experience building naval vessels, including patrol ships and survey ships.

The Indian Navy has expanded its indigenous design capacity over the past decade. The corvette programme tests that capacity on a multi-ship order with dual-yard construction. Successful delivery would increase the number of surface combatants available for Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal patrols.

Employment and industrial offsets form part of the justification. The projected person-days translate into sustained work for welders, fitters, electronics technicians and suppliers across West Bengal, Goa and supporting states. The requirement for Indian content aims to raise the share of domestic systems in the final ships.

The contracts were signed at Kartavya Bhawan in New Delhi. Officials described the deal as a milestone in self-reliance for warship construction. The Navy will oversee design compliance while the yards manage production and integration.

No cost overrun clauses or specific penalty provisions were made public. Earlier naval shipbuilding programmes have faced schedule slips; the dual-yard approach may distribute risk but also requires tighter coordination on common design standards.

The eight ships will enter service over the next decade. Their sensors and weapons are expected to include locally developed surface-to-surface missiles, anti-submarine rockets and air-defence systems. Exact configurations remain classified pending further disclosure.

The announcement adds to a series of large indigenous defence orders in 2026. Combined with ongoing submarine and destroyer programmes, the corvette contracts continue the shift toward domestic production of major naval platforms.