India built ships for centuries — the Wadia yards supplied the Royal Navy in the 1800s — but modern commercial shipbuilding stayed tiny. State yards like Cochin Shipyard, Mazagon Dock and GRSE grew mainly on naval and coast-guard orders; Cochin Shipyard built India's first home-made aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant (2022). Commercial shipbuilding, though, long languished under weak financing and thin scale.
Shipbuilding & Maritime
Shipbuilding & Maritime
India has one of the world's longest coastlines but builds under 1% of the world's ships — most Indian trade still moves on foreign-built, foreign-flagged vessels. After 2014, and especially in the 2025-26 Budget, the government began a serious push to change that, with a large development fund and a revamped assistance scheme. The counter shows the growing combined order book of Indian shipyards (illustrative).
~16th
Global shipbuilding rank
Rs 25,000 cr
Maritime Development Fund
Top 5
2047 goal
Global shipbuilding rank (2047 goal)
| Year | Shipyard order book |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 20 Rs '000 cr |
| 2015 | 24 Rs '000 cr |
| 2016 | 30 Rs '000 cr |
| 2017 | 37 Rs '000 cr |
| 2018 | 46 Rs '000 cr |
| 2019 | 54 Rs '000 cr |
| 2020 | 58 Rs '000 cr |
| 2021 | 70 Rs '000 cr |
| 2022 | 82 Rs '000 cr |
| 2023 | 93 Rs '000 cr |
| 2024 | 101 Rs '000 cr |
| 2025 | 108 Rs '000 cr |
2014
0Rs '000 cr
Shipyard order book
20142025
Since 2014
Added
+88 Rs '000 cr
2014
20 Rs '000 cr
2025
108 Rs '000 cr
Why it matters Shipbuilding anchors the blue economy — jobs, defence, and cutting reliance on foreign yards for the ships that carry India's trade.
- Global rank ~16th, under 1% market share
- Maritime Development Fund: Rs 25,000 crore (2025-26)
- Target: top-10 by 2030, top-5 by 2047
History
Notable projects
The marquee builds are naval — the carrier INS Vikrant and a growing line of frigates, destroyers and submarines from Mazagon Dock and GRSE. On the commercial side, a Rs 10,000-crore mega shipyard at Thoothukudi (with South Korea's HD Hyundai) and new shipbuilding clusters are planned to lift India into large merchant-vessel construction for the first time.
How it works
Shipbuilding is capital-heavy and cyclical, so it lives on cheap, patient finance — which India historically lacked against China, Korea and Japan. The new model props it up with a Rs 25,000-crore Maritime Development Fund for low-cost loans, a Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy that reimburses yards to close the cost gap, and 'infrastructure' status for large vessels so builders can borrow more cheaply.
Outlook
India is roughly the world's 16th shipbuilder with under 1% share, and aims to break into the top 10 by 2030 and top 5 by 2047 under the Maritime India Vision. Backed by the development fund, a Rs 69,725-crore maritime package, and a combined order book already past Rs 1 lakh crore, the goal is to lift the maritime sector from about 4% to 12% of GDP — but matching East Asian giants on scale, speed and skills is a steep climb.
The road ahead
The hard part is turning policy into globally competitive yards — matching Chinese and Korean scale, building a components and design ecosystem, and training enough skilled workers. Green shipping (methanol, ammonia and hydrogen vessels) is the opening India hopes to seize while the whole industry re-tools for cleaner fuel.
By the numbers
Global shipbuilding rank ~16th, under 1% market share; Maritime Development Fund Rs 25,000 crore; Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy ~Rs 24,700 crore (to 2036); combined order book of top yards over Rs 1 lakh crore (FY25); targets: top-10 by 2030, top-5 and 12% of GDP by 2047. Sources: Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways; Shipyards Association of India; PIB.
Source: Shipyards Association of India; Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways. Order-book trajectory illustrative; Maritime India Vision 2030 / 2047 targets.