Garden Reach Shipbuilders gets Rs 6,311 crore Indian Navy contract

The Defence Ministry on Monday awarded state-run ship builder GRSE a contract to build eight anti-submarine warfare shallow water crafts for Indian Navy at a cost of Rs 6,311 crore, officials said Monday. The request for proposal (RFP) for the project was issued by Indian Navy to state-run shipyards as well as to various Indian private ship builders in April 2014.

Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE) emerged as the successful bidder for design, construction and supply of the eight ships. The first ship is to be delivered within 42 months, the defence ministry said, adding, subsequently, two ships will have to be delivered by GRSE per year. "The project completion time is 84 months from today," it said. 

The GRSE is currently handling several major projects including constructing three stealth frigates for the Indian Navy under P17A Project and Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvettes for Indian Navy.

The contract was signed by Joint Secretary and Acquisition Manager (Maritime Systems) Ravi Kant on behalf of Defence Ministry and S S Dogra, Director (Finance) from GRSE.

The GRSE has been building a range of warships since its inception as a DPSU in 1960. 

The 100 warships built by GRSE so far range from advanced frigates to anti-submarine warfare corvettes to fleet tankers, fast attack crafts.

"The present Project will further consolidate GRSE's position as a unique shipyard with all round capability to design and build Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Crafts (ASWSWC) warships with state-of-the-art technology," said the defence ministry.