Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd, abbreviated as GRSE, is one of India's leading

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

s, located in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. It builds and repairs

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

and

naval A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operatio ...

vessels. GRSE also exports the ships that the company builds. Founded in 1884 as a small privately-owned company on the eastern bank of the

Hooghly River The Hooghly River (, also spelled ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli'') is the westernmost distributary of the Ganges, situated in West Bengal, India. It is known in its upper reaches as the Bhagirathi. The Bhagirathi splits off from the main branch of the G ...

, it was renamed as ''Garden Reach Workshop'' in 1916. GRSE was nationalised by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

in 1960. The company was awarded the Miniratna

public sector undertaking Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) in India are State-owned enterprise, government-owned entities in which at least 51% of stake is under the ownership of the Government of India or State governments of India, state governments. These types of f ...

status, with accompanying financial and operational autonomy in September 2006. GRSE is the first Indian shipyard to build 100 warships.

Facilities

GRSE has ship building facilities in Kolkata and a diesel engine plant in

Ranchi Ranchi (; ) is the capital city and also the largest district by population of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern ...

. It has a large

computer-aided design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

(CAD) centre for ship modelling and design. There are four workshops for plate preparation and steel fabrication. GRSE has a

dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

for ships up to . It has a building berth and two slipways for

hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

construction. It has a covered all-weather non-tidal wet basin for

fitting-out Fitting out, or outfitting, is the process in shipbuilding that follows the float-out/launching of a vessel and precedes sea trials. It is the period when all the remaining construction of the ship is completed and readied for delivery to her o ...

medium and small ships and another fitting-out complex for ships with three berths alongside. In addition, it has two river

jetties A jetty is a man-made structure that protrudes from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signif ...

for berthing smaller vessels up to in length. GRSE has engine assemble, test, repair and overhaul facilities in Ranchi, which acquires 62 acres of land. GRSE and Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata (SMPK) have inked a long-term concession agreement for GRSE to operate 3 dry docks. Here, GRSE undertakes multiple dry dock repairs of ships up to 160 m length, 20 m beam, and 7 m draught. These docks are situated inside a wet basin, which allows for docking and undocking operations independent of river tidal requirements. The wet basin also has multiple berthing facilities for afloat maintenance and refit operations. On 1 July 2006, GRSE acquired the loss-making Rajabagan Dockyard (RBD) of Central Inland Water Transport Corporation (CIWTC). RBD's facilities with its waterfront helped alleviate some of GRSE's space constraints and increase its production capacity. As of 2011, the shipyard was undergoing a upgrade programme, expected to be completed by March 2012. The second phase of the upgrade programme was scheduled to commence from June 2013. On 30 January 2024, GRSE signed a Frame and Individual License Agreement with Rolls-Royce Solutions, Germany to co-operate in the license production and localisation of the MTU IMO Tier II compliant Series 4000 Marine Engines for governmental ships. The agreement enabled GRSE to manufacture the engines in its Diesel Engine Plant in

. The engines can power warships of fast

patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and they ...

, interceptor boat and fast attack craft class ships of the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

and the

Indian Coast Guard The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency of India with jurisdiction over its territorial waters including its contiguous zone and Exclusive economic zone of India, exclusive economic zone. It was st ...

. It is already deployed on the Car Nicobar-class patrol vessel. The series of engines have power output range of . The agreement includes

Transfer of Technology Technology transfer (TT), also called transfer of technology (TOT), is the process of transferring (disseminating) technology from the person or organization that owns or holds it to another person or organization, in an attempt to transform invent ...

for engine assembly, painting, parts sourcing and after-sales service for these engines. On 28 January 2023, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed for the same purpose.

Vessels built

Commercial vessels

Among commercial and scientific ships, GRSE builds

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

and hydrographic

research vessel A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...

s, marine acoustic research ships, non-propelled

dredger Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing dam ...

s, grab hopper dredgers, trailing suction hopper dredgers,

tugboats A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, such ...

, and

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially naval architecture, designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo—such as Grain trade, grain, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement—in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrie ...

s. On July 16, 2024, GRSE signed a contract with the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR),

Ministry of Earth Sciences The Ministry of Earth Sciences is an executive ministry of the Government of India, established on 29 January, 2006. It was formed through the reorganisation of the Department of Ocean Development and the assumption of administrative control ov ...

, for construction of an advanced Ocean Research Vessel (ORV). On 29 October 2024, Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) under

DRDO The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, charged with the military's research and development, headqu ...

placed an order for a new Acoustic Research Ship (ARS) with the Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers,

. The order worth was signed in

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

. The ARS will have an overall length of and a beam of . It will be able to achieve speeds ranging up to . The ship will have a minimum endurance of 30 days or . It will have a complement of 70 personnel. The vessel will have diesel-electric propulsion and 3 deck cranes will be fitted on board to handle research equipment. The ARS will be able to deploy, tow, and retrieve a variety of equipment, including acoustic modules; conduct high-resolution surveys of sound velocity profiles in time and/or space; and gather data on ocean tides and currents for use in survey optimisation, underwater mooring design, and offshore deployments. Additionally, it will be able to launch, moor, and maintain independent

sonobuoys A sonobuoy (a portmanteau of sonar and buoy) is a small expendable sonar buoy dropped from aircraft or ships for anti-submarine warfare or underwater acoustic research. Sonobuoys are typically around in diameter and long. When floating on the ...

as well as gather data from them. The ship will be able to conduct acoustic system experiments at various speed regimes while remaining silent due to its broad speed range. The ARS will also be equipped with a

dynamic positioning system Dynamic positioning (DP) is a computer-controlled system to automatically maintain a vessel's position and heading by using its own propellers and thrusters. Position reference sensors, combined with wind sensors, motion sensors and gyrocompass ...

that will enable it to hold its place until Sea State 4. On 11 June 2025, GRSE signed a contract for 2 Coastal Research Vessel (CRV) from the

Geological Survey of India The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is a scientific agency of India. It was founded in 1851, as a Government of India organization under the Ministry of Mines, one of the oldest of such organisations in the world and the second oldest survey ...

. Each CRV will be long and wide, with a

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water Fresh water or ...

of around 450 tonnes. Built for extended missions, these vessels will feature an endurance of 15 days and a maximum speed of 10 knots. They will be capable of accommodating up to 35 personnel onboard. The vessels — to be equipped with laboratories for data processing and sample analysis — will be capable of multiple roles like geological mapping, mineral exploration, ocean environment monitoring and scientific research. The vessels will be powered by diesel electric propulsion and will feature

Dynamic Positioning System Dynamic positioning (DP) is a computer-controlled system to automatically maintain a vessel's position and heading by using its own propellers and thrusters. Position reference sensors, combined with wind sensors, motion sensors and gyrocompass ...

for operations in Sea State 3 conditions.

Naval vessels

urther, these vessels will have Dynamic Positioning F As of March 2024, GRSE has designed and built 108 warships and patrol vessels for the

and the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

for the last 63 years. Vessels built at GRSE include guided-missile frigates,

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

fleet tanker A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers. T ...

s, fast patrol vessels,

amphibious warfare Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conduc ...

vessels and

hovercraft A hovercraft (: hovercraft), also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and various other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the ...

. GRSE has built the following notable warships for the

. * * s * * s * s *

Patrol vessels A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...

include , , , and es. * Landing Ship Tanks include and es. *

Landing craft utility A Landing Craft Utility (LCU) is a type of boat used by amphibious forces to transport equipment and troops to the shore. They are capable of transporting tracked or wheeled vehicles and troops from amphibious assault ships to beachheads or pi ...

vessels include Mk. IV LCU (contract in September 2011 for ₹2,176 crore). * Survey Vessels include Sandhayak-class (1981). Current contracts of the Shipyard includes 8

Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft The Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC) corvettes, are a class of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) vessels currently being built for the Indian Navy, by Cochin Shipyard (CSL) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE). They were ...

, 3 s, Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessel, Sandhayak-class survey vessel. GRSE also undertakes ship refitting operations. Some of the notable projects of the Ship Repair Division of GRSE includes: – * Abhay-class corvette (

) *

Sri Lankan Navy The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) (; ) is the navy, naval arm of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and is classed as the country's most vital defence force due to its island geography. It is responsible for the maritime defence of the Sri Lankan nation and its ...

Offshore Patrol Vessel *

MCGS Barracuda MCGS ''Barracuda'' is a Kora-Class offshore patrol vessel of National Coast Guard Mauritius. Built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Kolkata, India and launched on 2 August 2013, it is the first warship to be exported by an Indian sh ...

( Mauritius Coast Guard) * PS Zoroaster (

Seychelles Coast Guard The Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG) is a branch of the Seychelles People's Defence Force created in 1993. It is a maritime, military, multi-mission service. They acquired responsibility for search and rescue for vessel incidents as well as environmen ...

) *

Ships

Sarojini Naidu Sarojini Naidu (Birth name, née Chattopadhyay) (; 13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949) was an Indian political activist and poet who served as the first Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Governor of United Provinces, after Independence Day (India), Indi ...

, Sujay,

Vijaya Vijaya may refer to: Places * Vijaya (Champa), a city-state and former capital of the historic Champa in what is now Vietnam * Vijayawada, a city in Andhra Pradesh, India People * Prince Vijaya of Sri Lanka (fl. 543–505 BC), earliest recorde ...

, Priyadarshini & Sankalp * SMPK vessels PV Ma Ganga & CV Mahabahu As of August 2024, GRSE was undertaking 7 ICG and 2 SMPK vessel refit.

Exports

GRSE delivered the corvette to Mauritius on 20 December 2014. The contract was worth $58.5 million. With this, India joined the elite club of warship exporters. The Mauritius offshore patrol vessel has an integrated bridge system and cutting edge controls and main engines and can support 83 member crew. It measures in length and in breadth and will be capable of moving at a maximum speed of with an approximate displacement of 1,350 tonnes. GRSE has been short-listed for a patrol boat project for

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

worth and is also bidding for an order of two frigates for

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. GRSE was reported to be the lowest bidder to supply two light frigates to the

. A total of four firms joined the bidding for the

Philippine Navy The Philippine Navy (PN) () is the naval warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It has an estimated strength of 24,500 active service personnel, including the 10,300-strong Philippine Marine Corps. It operates 91 combat ...

project: GRSE;

Hyundai Heavy Industries HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI; ) is the world's largest shipbuilding company and a major heavy equipment manufacturer. Its headquarters are in Ulsan, South Korea. History HHI was founded in 1972 by Chung Ju-yung as a division ...

Inc. and

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Hanwha Ocean Co., Ltd. (), formerly known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME; ), is one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea, along with Hyundai and Samsung. History On 21 February 2011, the A. P. Moller-Maersk ...

Co. Ltd., both from

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

; and

Navantia Navantia is a Spanish state-owned shipbuilding enterprise dedicated to civil and military naval construction, the design of deep-tech systems and the manufacture of structures for the renewable energy sector, such as offshore wind or hydrogen. ...

S.A. of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. GRSE's light frigate would have been a design based on the

's Kamorta-class corvette. On 22 June 2024, GRSE secured a contract for design, construction and delivery of four multi-purpose vessels (MPV) to transport

windmill A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...

blades. The deal was signed by ''Carsten Rehder Schiffsmakler and Reederei'', a German shipbuilding entity and GRSE for a value of $54 million. The vessels would displace 7,500 tonnes and will be 120 metres long and 17 metres wide with a maximum draght of 6.75 metres. GRSE secured an order of additional 4 MPVs under the " Option Agreement". This brings the total order value of $108 million for 8 ships. The contract for the construction and delivery of 5th ship was signed on 3 October 2024. On 1 July 2024, GRSE received another $21 million order for a 800-tonne Advanced Ocean-Going Tug from the

Bangladesh Navy The Bangladesh Navy () is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for the defence of Bangladesh's of maritime territorial area from any external threat, the security of sea ports and exclusive economic zones of Ban ...

. The tugboat will be delivered within 24 months of signing the contract. The tugboat is expected to measure 61 meters in length, about 15.80 meters in width and have a draught of nearly 6.80 meters. The order was received a few weeks after receiving an order for a Trailing Suction Hopper (TSH) dredger. GRSE also has an order of 6 patrol boats for the Bangladesh's Department of Fisheries.

Neerakshi AUV

On 28 July 2023, GRSE, in partnership with

MSME Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organizat ...

firm Aerospace Engineering Private Ltd. (AEPL), launched an Lightweight

Autonomous Underwater Vehicle An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring continuous input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification tha ...

named ''Neerakshi'' (). The AUV is primarily tasked for mine countermeasure operations (including mine detection and planned mine disposal) with secondary roles such as reusable

target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

for

Anti-Submarine Warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...

(ASW) training as well as deployment for passive acoustic monitoring from warships. The AUV will have a length, diameter, weight of with a 4 hours endurance and maximum depth. After Navy trials, commercial launch of the platform was expected within six months to a year.

Other products

Naval Surface Gun (NSG) 30 mm

The Naval Surface Gun NSG is a

30 mm 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a automatic firearm, fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary ammunition, incendiary shell (projectile), shells, ...

developed indigenously by GRSE in partnership with technology and production partners – Blue Horizons Strategic Engineering (BHSEL) and

Elbit Systems Elbit Systems Ltd. is an Israel-based international military technology company and defense contractor. Founded in 1966 by Elron, Elbit Systems is the primary provider of the Israeli military's land-based equipment and unmanned aerial v ...

. The gun also employs an indigenous Electro Optical Fire Control System. The gun, with an indigenous content of 60%, was developed within a timeframe of two years. GRSE successfully completed the Sea Acceptance Trials of the gun on 22 May 2025. The guns equip ''Arnala''-class corvettes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Shipbuilding companies of India Diesel engine manufacturers Marine engine manufacturers Indian Navy Government-owned companies of India Companies nationalised by the Government of India Engine manufacturers of India Manufacturing companies based in Kolkata Indian companies established in 1884 Manufacturing companies established in 1884 Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange