It also plans shipbuilding yards

Crown Group Defence, which is into providing MRO [Maintenance Repair Overhaul] support in the areas of Marine Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Military Engineering and Weapon systems to the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Land and Aviation forces, has announced its foray into offering MRO services to merchant shipping industry to capitalise on the Government’s “Make in India” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiatives.

The group has offered to provide MRO services to global OEMs [Original Equipment Manufacturers] in line with the prevailing policies.

It is also planning to expand into shipbuilding and is in talks to acquire shipyards in the west coast where it has large facilities, top executives of the group said.

Crown Group Defence currently offers its services to the entire spectrum covering aerospace, maritime and land defence and now plans to scale up be a $1 billion enterprise by 2028 through various activities.

“Our Marine division, comprising of Dynatron Services Pvt. Ltd. (DSPL) & OSK India Pvt. Ltd. (OIPL), which is catering to the MRO & servicing of Indian Naval ships and Submarines, will now extend its fully functional Defence/Naval ship repair facilities in Karwar, Mumbai, Goa, Vishakhapatnam and Chennai for the indigenous MRO of merchant ships” Vice Admiral Paras Nath (Retd.), Group President, Crown Group Defence said in an interview.

“Our entire range of services which is currently being offered to Naval ships such as hull, engineering and electrical repairs will now be offered to merchant shipping industry,” he added adding the group has mobilised the right talent to harness the growth opportunities.

On the group’s entry into the civilian segment, Commodore Rakesh Anand (Retd.), Head of Marine Division, said “Both DSPL and OIPL have partnerships with global OEMs whose product range falls in the dual use category which is civil and defence.”

“The product range namely Hydraulic Systems, System Valves, Pumps, Compressors, Gearboxes, Thrusters, Radar, and electronic equipment are the applicable for civil and defence use. Thus, apart from undertaking services for foreign origin equipment installed in Naval ships and submarines, merchant ship repairs can also be undertaken involving various systems,” he added.

“The thrust towards diversifying into the civil MRO services has been initiated both by DSPL and OIPL. While OIPL has made forays into electronic repair requirement of the Indian Railway, DSPL is aiming to venture into undertaking repairs of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) ships and meet the requirements of ONGC, HPCL ” said Commodore Anand.

Vikas Banga, Group’s chief strategy officer said “Global OEMs that are looking for organised players to help them maintain & service their equipment and provide quality service to their customers in India, find it easy to partner with us because of our world class MRO facilities & workshops spread across India and experience in working with International OEMs.”

“For International OEMs it is much more economical to partner with local players who already have facilities and understand the local business environment.” he said.

On Thursday Dynatron Services Pvt Ltd, signed an MoU with WILO Mather and Platt Pumps Pvt. Ltd., one of the world’s leading premium providers of pumps and pump systems, to support indigenisation of equipment for Indian Naval ships and submarines.