India signs ₹53,866.50 crore contracts for eight Next Generation Corvettes

Contract split and signing

GRSE will build five of the eight corvettes, and Goa Shipyard Limited will build the other three. The Ministry of Defence signed the contracts in New Delhi on 2 November, with Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh present. Goa Shipyard described the award as its largest-ever contract. The Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the project on 28 October 2026. GRSE emerged as the lowest bidder.

Financial Express reported that the contracts provide long-term revenue visibility, though earnings depend on execution schedules, costs and project margins. It said GRSE's ₹32,000 crore contract is about 4.6 times its FY26 revenue of ₹7,002 crore and more than twice its June order book of ₹13,596 crore, which had fallen from ₹15,324 crore in March 2026.

The Request for Information for seven corvettes was floated in 2016, and the Defence Acquisition Council raised the number to eight in June 2022. Naval News reported this is the first project in which the Indian Navy designs the ships and Defence Public Sector Undertakings build them through a competitive process rather than by nomination.

What the Navy gets

The ships are to conduct anti-surface, anti-air and anti-submarine warfare, the ministry said. Naval News reported a crew of 11 officers and 139 sailors.

GRSE's release lists Medium Range Anti-Ship Missiles, Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missiles, 324 mm torpedo tubes, an OTO Melara 76 mm gun and an AK-630 close-in weapon system. The sensor suite includes an electro-optical infrared search and track system and a multi-function surveillance, track and guidance radar. Naval News reported that two eight-cell vertical launch units carry the surface-to-air missiles and gave the specifications as 127.4 metres long, 17.6 metres beam, 4,950 tons displacement and 26 knots. The Economic Times reported about 2,000 tonnes and around 30 knots. The ministry did not confirm the specifications, India Sentinels reported.

The Economic Times reported that all eight ships will be built in India, with more than 70% indigenous content. The ministry expects about 72 lakh person-days of employment in the shipyards and 460 lakh person-days in ancillary industries and MSMEs over the next ten years.

Delivery and revenue timing

Financial Express said the contract is scheduled for completion within nine years and four months from the first-stage payment.

The Economic Times reported that construction of the first corvette is expected to begin within a year and that the first vessel is targeted for delivery by 2030. Naval News said deliveries are expected to commence by 2031, with both shipyards aiming to launch the first corvettes in late 2029.