Indian company launches two warships and prepares a third, marking great advancement in the country’s expanding defence industry

GRSE launches second Indian Navy anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft in March 2023. Credit: Indian Press Information Bureau in West Bengal twitter.

Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE), a Kolkata-based shipbuilding company, has launched two warships and has laid the keel for its third vessel on 13 June.

The new vessels are anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft (ASWSWC). These ships will replace the Indian Navy’s Abhay-class frigates and are designed to provide subsurface intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) in littoral waters.

GlobalData defence analyst, Harshavardhan Dabbiru, stated: “Hitting multiple milestones on the same day highlights GRSE’s capabilities in indigenous naval shipbuilding and India’s evolution as a defence manufacturing hub worldwide.”

The Indian naval vessel market is witnessing steady growth. According to GlobalData’s estimates, India is likely to spend $35.3bn on procuring various types of naval vessels and surface combatants over 2023–2033. As a result, the naval vessels and surface combatants market in India is expected to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.4% during the forecast period.

The push toward indigenous shipbuilding will ensure that a large portion of this revenue goes to the local players in the country.

“India’s pursuit of indigenous naval shipbuilding capabilities is part of the country’s strategic objective of attaining self-sufficiency in defence procurements for its armed forces.

“Over the years, the country has reduced its reliance on imports while encouraging domestic innovation and skill development. The recent accomplishments of the GRSE also showcase the capabilities of the domestic supply chain entities in delivering the complex sub-systems that go into these advanced naval platforms,” Dabbiru added.

Subsurface Capabilities

The global underwater warfare systems market, valued at $4.9bn in 2022 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.41% over the forecast period. It is expected to reach $6.8bn by 2032 and cumulatively value $64.9bn over the forecast period.

The market consists of multiple categories: torpedo, naval mine, sonar, torpedo countermeasure systems and decoys, sonobuoys, and uncrewed underwater systems. The market is expected to be dominated by the sonar segment, which accounts for 58.8% of the market, followed by torpedo segment with 13.5% share.

Among geographic segments, Asia-Pacific – spearheaded by the success of India in recent months – is projected to dominate the sector with a share of 35.3%. This is followed by Europe and North America, with shares of 30.0% and 24.6%, respectively.