Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday dedicated indigenously manufactured frontline naval combatants—destroyer INS Surat, frigate INS Nilgiri and submarine INS Vaghsheer—to the nation at Naval Dockyard in Mumbai.
Speaking at the occasion, PM Modi said the armed forces have identified over 5,000 items and equipment that will no longer be imported. Currently 60 large ships, valued at approximately ₹1.5 lakh crore, are under construction in the country, he added.
He also outlined that 33 ships and seven submarines have been inducted in the Indian Navy in the past decade. Of these, 39 were built in Indian shipyards, including the INS Vikrant aircraft carrier and nuclear submarines INS Arihant and INS Arighaat. .
Expressed satisfaction
The PM expressed satisfaction with the Navy’s significant expansion of the Make in India initiative, acknowledging the crucial role of Mazagon Dockyard which has constructed all the three platforms.
“The Make in India initiative is not only enhances the capabilities of India’s armed forces, but also opens new avenues for economic progress,” said Modi.
He further noted that according to experts every rupee invested in shipbuilding has a positive impact of nearly double on the economy. Modi emphasised that this investment would result in an economic circulation of around ₹3 lakh crore and a six-fold multiplier effect in terms of employment.
Noting that most of the ship parts come from domestic MSMEs, he said if 2,000 workers are involved in building a ship, it creates around 12,000 jobs in other industries, particularly in the MSME sector.
Continuous growth
Emphasising India’s rapid progress towards becoming the world’s third-largest economy and the need for hundreds of new ships and containers in the future, the PM remarked that there was continuous growth in manufacturing and export capacity.
According to Modi, the port-led development model will accelerate the entire economy and create thousands of new job opportunities. Citing an example of the increasing employment in the seafaring sector, the PM said that India now ranks among the top five countries in terms of the number of seafarers.
The number of seafarers in India, as per him, has more than doubled from less than 1,25,000 in 2014 to nearly 3,00,000 today.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who shared the dias with PM Modi, said, “Over 75 per cent of the content of INS Surat and INS Nilgiri has been developed in India. Indigenous content is also increasing continuously in other platforms that are being manufactured in the country.”
Low cost, high impact systems
He asserted that the three Naval combatants are fully equipped with state-of-the-art systems and technologies, which makes these platforms fully capable of dealing with any situation.
“On one hand, we are producing big platforms within the country, on the other, our focus is on low cost and high impact systems, which can make our armed forces more potent in a short time. Thus, in the process of rapid modernisation of our forces, we are bringing a balanced mix,” he said.
He exuded confidence in implementing many reforms by the end of year, which would take India’s defence sector to greater heights.
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