The Amini anti-submarine craft was delivered to the Indian Navy at Kattupalli in Tamil Nadu on Thursday, 24 years after the first warship of that name was decommissioned.

Rear Admiral Gautam Marwaha, VSM, Chief Staff Officer (Technical) at Headquarters Eastern Naval Command, accepted the ship from Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata. Amini is the fifth of eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW SWC) that GRSE is building for the Navy.

The Navy described her as one of its "Defenders of the Deep".

Old name returns to the same underwater role

The ship takes her name from Amini Island in Lakshadweep. The earlier INS Amini, a Soviet-built Petya III class anti-submarine corvette, joined the Navy on 12 December 1974 and served until 2002.

The Amini anti-submarine craft has been designed and built in India for the same underwater role, continuing the naval tradition of carrying forward legacy names.

Amini anti-submarine craft built for shallow coastal waters

The ship is about 77.6 metres long and has a draught of around 2.7 metres, which allows her to work in coastal waters that are difficult for larger warships. Marine diesel engines drive waterjets. Ships of this type are the largest Indian naval warships propelled by waterjets.

She carries sonars, lightweight torpedoes and indigenous rocket launchers, all linked through a Combat Management System. Her tasks include underwater surveillance, search and attack missions, and anti-submarine operations in coordination with aircraft. Coastal surveillance, mine-laying and low-intensity maritime operations are also part of the role for ships of this class, the Navy has said.

GRSE-made 30mm gun on board

She also carries a 30mm Naval Surface Gun manufactured by GRSE.

Indigenous content crosses 80 percent

The Navy puts Amini's indigenous content at over 80 percent, while GRSE gives a figure of around 88 percent for the programme. The ship has been built in line with the government's Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision, to the classification rules of the Indian Register of Shipping.

The Ministry of Defence signed the contract for GRSE's eight ships on 29 April 2019. Amini was launched at the L&T shipyard in Kattupalli on 16 November 2023, the same place where she has now been handed over.

GRSE delivers its 81st warship to the Navy

Amini is the 119th warship built by GRSE and the 81st delivered to the Indian Navy. The Kolkata shipyard, which gained Navratna status in June, delivered three platforms on a single day on 30 March: Dunagiri, Sanshodhak and Agray. Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned all three at Kolkata on 21 June.

GRSE is now building 13 frontline naval platforms and 36 other vessels, including 13 for export. The frontline list has one Project 17A frigate, three ASW SWCs, four Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels and five Next Generation Corvettes.

Those corvettes come from the Rs 53,866.50 crore contracts signed on Monday with GRSE and Goa Shipyard Limited.

Recent ASW craft reached commissioning within three months

Commissioning normally follows within months of delivery, and the ship gets the INS prefix at that stage. Anjadip, also accepted by Rear Admiral Gautam Marwaha, was delivered on 22 December 2025 and commissioned on 27 February 2026. Agray took less than three months, from 30 March to 21 June.

INS Mangrol, from the eight-ship line at Cochin Shipyard, was delivered on 21 August and commissioned on 12 October.