The GRSE YIL Bhumi Pujan ceremony brought together three expansion projects of Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers and two of Yantra India Limited on Sunday, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh presiding virtually from GRSE Bhavan in Kolkata. West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari joined him for the ground breaking.

Together the five projects, spanning shipbuilding, ship repair, metallurgy and production capacity, represent a combined investment of approximately Rs 3,500 crore.

The Ministry of Defence's spokesperson account confirmed the ceremony on X shortly after it concluded, noting that the five projects would strengthen the country's shipbuilding, ship repair, metallurgical and production capabilities in one move.


The GRSE YIL Bhumi Pujan lays out a Raichak shipbuilding hub

Under the plan, GRSE has signed lease agreements with Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port for two disused shipyards on either bank of the Hooghly, along with a 32 acre riverside plot at Raichak. The Defence Ministry's release puts the site's waterfront at 356 metres, with a 96 metre jetty already in place and a draught of 8 to 10 metres suited to ship construction.

GRSE intends to spend more than Rs 2,500 crore developing Raichak into a shipbuilding hub capable of warships up to 200 metres and commercial vessels of up to 60,000 tonnes deadweight, the Supramax class. GRSE has already moved into commercial shipbuilding with an ONGC platform supply vessel order, and Raichak would give that side of the business room to grow. Planned infrastructure includes a 200 metre dry dock, a 200 metre slipway, a 200 metre launching pad, two jetties of 120 and 86 metres, and block fabrication, hull repair and administrative facilities.

Rajnath Singh linked the ceremony to the government's wider self-reliance push, tracing it to the Saptadhara, the seven streams of power the Prime Minister spoke of during his 2026 Independence Day address from the Red Fort. "Self-reliance is not merely a policy, it is a force multiplier for battlefield capability," the Defence Minister said, adding that GRSE and YIL would be crucial to that effort. He said the projects would also generate employment and open opportunities for MSMEs.

Two more GRSE sites round out the shipbuilding value chain

Timber Pond in Shalimar, Howrah, sits across the Hooghly from GRSE's main yard on a 30 year lease from the port authority. The four acre site has a dilapidated dry dock and an 88 metre waterfront that GRSE plans to rejuvenate with an investment of nearly Rs 100 crore, restoring a 130 metre dry dock, cutting a new 120 metre slipway and adding a dry dock gate and gantry crane.

A third site, an old workshop with a 25 metre waterfront at Kidderpore Docks known as the Damodar, has been leased for 30 years and sits beside three dry docks GRSE already uses for repairs and refits. GRSE will spend about Rs 70 crore there to repair medium size vessels and build electric ferries.

Inside YIL's forging expansion at Ishapore

Yantra India Limited's Ishapore forging plants follow a separate expansion at its Ordnance Factory Ambajhari site in Nagpur, where the company is building a 10,000 tonne aluminium extrusion press for defence and aerospace grade metal.

The two YIL projects at the Metal and Steel Factory represent a combined investment of more than Rs 750 crore. The first is a 3,000 tonne open die forging press with two rail bound manipulators, replacing a 2,650 tonne press that has run since 1976. Due within 26 months, it is meant to keep gun barrels, ammunition components and heavy defence forgings in continuous, high precision production, and is projected to save Rs 25.58 crore a year against a Rs 500 crore annual turnover, with an 11 year payback and a 7.3 percent internal rate of return.

The second is a radial forging plant costing Rs 473.84 crore, due in 30 months. It brings radial forging technology to Ishapore for the first time, adding capacity for super alloy forgings, hollow tubes for aerial bombs, railway axles and nuclear reactor components. YIL projects an annual profit of around Rs 69 crore, a 10.58 percent internal rate of return and a payback period of about six years.

Rajnath Singh described YIL as a pillar of India's defence manufacturing base. "YIL has invested over Rs 750 crore in MSF Ishapore. By replacing legacy systems dating back to 1976, this investment will establish Industry 4.0 capable precision manufacturing," he said, noting the company had turned in consistent financial and regulatory performance since its formation in October 2021.

GRSE's Navratna year and the Dunagiri connection

The Defence Minister also referenced GRSE's record, noting the yard's advanced guided missile frigate INS Dunagiri, dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year. GRSE has built more than 800 vessels to date, he said, and its next generation offshore patrol vessels, still under construction, will carry more than 80 percent indigenous content, congratulating the shipyard on its recent elevation to Navratna status in the same breath.

Rajnath Singh's 'Capacity Paradox' pitch for a global shipbuilding hub

The GRSE YIL Bhumi Pujan gave Rajnath Singh room to set out a wider argument. He pointed to what he called an emerging Capacity Paradox, in which demand for naval and commercial vessels is climbing even as traditional shipbuilding nations lose capacity, a gap he said design, manufacturing and MRO shortages have widened further.

He argued India could use its pool of engineers, IT professionals and expertise in simulation and artificial intelligence to develop its own ship designs, secure patents on them and sell them abroad, an area where he said design expertise held by traditional shipbuilding nations is fading fast, leaving room for new entrants willing to invest in the underlying engineering talent.

Ship repair drew a sharper pitch from the Defence Minister. "MRO simply requires quality, discipline and reliable timelines," he said, calling it a low hanging fruit that needs neither heavy capital nor a large workforce, and urging India to become a repair and overhaul hub for the Indian Ocean Region.

Chief Secretary Manoj Agarwal, Secretary (Defence Production) Sanjeev Kumar, GRSE Chairman and Managing Director Cmde PR Hari, YIL Chairman and Managing Director Vijaykumar Iyer and other officials of the Department of Defence Production attended the virtual ceremony from their respective locations.

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari called it a historic moment for the state.