Delivery of INS Vikrant to the Indian Navy will be done by October 2020 but the tests and trials will start earlier, said Madhu S Nair, CMD, Cochin Shipyard

Cochin Shipyard posted a strong set of consolidated earnings in Q3 as ship building EBIT spiked 1.6 times while margins improved as subcontracting expenses fell 27%.

Throwing more light on the numbers and the outlook going forward Madhu S Nair, CMD, Cochin Shipyard said higher revenues from aircraft carrier business led to higher margins. The ship repair business also did well in the quarter gone by, he said.

On a 9-monthy basis, the ship repair margins stood at 23 percent, he said.

He said the delivery of INS Vikrant to the Indian Navy will be done by October 2020 but the tests and trials will start earlier.

The phase 3 contract with regards to the Vikrant order is yet to be concluded, which will be done by 2018-end, early-2019 but if one were to factor in Rs 3000 crore of the phase 3 part then the current orderbook stands at Rs 12600 crore, said Nair.

Going forward, he expects additional orders worth Rs 5800 crore, which are at L1 stage.

He is also confident of Q4FY18 being strong.