Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE), Kolkata’s premier warship builder, has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the DEMPO Group, a leading business house in Goa. The collaboration aims to construct commercial vessels in DEMPO’s three premier shipyards in Goa and Bhavnagar. This partnership marks GRSE’s ambitious leap into the commercial shipbuilding sector, targeting a considerable market share both domestically and internationally.

GRSE’s Public-Private Model in Commercial Shipbuilding

GRSE Takes the Helm in Making Public-Private Collaboration a Success in Shipbuilding

Among its many firsts, GRSE is pioneering the Public-Private collaboration model in warship building. Aligning this strategy with the burgeoning commercial shipbuilding market, GRSE is collaborating with M/s V S Dempo Holdings Private Ltd. The partnership aims to leverage the shared shipbuilding resources of both entities to build commercial vessels, particularly on India’s west coast.

India’s Shipbuilding Market Poised for Growth

GRSE and DEMPO Eye USD 8.76 Billion Indian Shipbuilding Market

Research estimates India’s shipbuilding market to be worth USD 7.1 billion in 2023, growing to USD 8.76 billion by 2028. Globally, the shipbuilding market is expected to escalate from USD 170 billion to USD 230 billion by 2028, with a CAGR of 5.45%. Despite these encouraging figures, India’s contribution to the global commercial shipbuilding sector is currently under 1%, far less than the 3.5% achieved in 2007. GRSE seeks to break through this barrier by using its technology and resources to compete with low-cost shipbuilders like China, Vietnam, and Turkey for contracts in European, Middle Eastern, and African markets.

Positive Outlook Amid Challenges

GRSE and DEMPO Ready to Navigate Commercial Shipbuilding’s Latest Trends and Challenges

Commodore P R Hari, Chairman and managing Director of GRSE, acknowledged the challenges faced by Indian shipbuilders due to rising Chinese competition and stricter environmental regulations. However, he expressed optimism about the industry’s rapid technological advances, creating new opportunities for those who can adapt to the latest trends.

An ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ through Shipbuilding

DEMO and GRSE Collaboration Supports India’s Self-Reliance Mission

Srinivas Dempo, Chairman of the DEMPO Group, emphasized that shipbuilding is a strategically crucial industry for India, particularly in terms of national defense, energy security, and heavy engineering development. With shipbuilding’s high employment multiplier of 6.48, the industry can generate mass employment, particularly in remote, coastal, and rural areas. Dempo expressed confidence that the GRSE-DEMO partnership would form a productive ecosystem, pulling strengths from each other’s expertise to secure more domestic and foreign shipbuilding orders, including in the area of green shipbuilding.

  Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Bhavnagar, DEMPO Group, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, India, Kolkata, P R Hari, Srinivas Dempo