Our Defence Shipyard Is Critical In Strengthening Navy, Coast Guard: Rajnath Singh

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday that the Defence Shipyard has played a critical role in strengthening our Navy and Coast Guard, ensuring timely delivery of platforms and the highest quality materials.

“The Navy and Coast Guard can only be strengthened if they are fully equipped with modern weapons for maritime border security and the shipyard is constantly playing an important role in this direction,” Singh said on Friday while chairing a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Defence in Mumbai.

He said that the defence shipyard is a prime example of PM Modi's vision of “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” and that India's defence shipyard is admired by foreign nations all over the world.

“I appreciate the way Defence Shipyard has worked over the years and am happy to say that Defence Shipyard has not only taken care of timely delivery of orders but has also provided the quality of its products which was foremost and Defence Shipyard tried its best in this direction,” Singh said.

“Defence Shipyard has done a very good job in view of the Prime Minister's self-reliance in India, the indigenisation list by the Ministry of Defence is 3700, and its manufacturing will be done from here and will not be taken from outside under any circumstances,” he said. 

“I am not saying that we have reached all the heights of progress; efforts have been made for the development of our shipyard for a decade, and we still have a lot to achieve and suggestions from committee members are expected,” Singh said, adding that he expects the Defence Shipyard to continue working in this direction and to hold constant discussions.

Singh also said that the Defense Shipyards had improved the economy.

“The value and production of these shipyards are around Rs 9000 crores during 2021-22, and the profit is around Rs 1000 crores after tax,” he said.

Singh told the Members of Parliament present at the Consultative Committee meeting, “When we last met, we agreed that the next meeting would be held in Mumbai. There have been numerous issues with the Defence Ministry up to this point. We've been discussing it in committee meetings on a regular basis, and we've been working hard to keep you up to date on what's going on in the field of defence and what we plan to do in the future.”

He also said that the Committee's suggestions from the previous meeting were valued and that they attempted to implement whatever was possible.

The Union Defence Minister also mentioned the ‘SRIJAN’ Portal, which was launched on 14 August 2020, to promote indigenisation and 783 items listed in the portal had previously been imported. Their local vendors were also unavailable in the country.

“We were successful in indigenizing the 73 items and efforts to indigenize the remaining items are ongoing with the help of industry partners,” he said.

Members of Parliament present included Adhir Ranjan Choudhary, Farooq Abdullah, Sougat Roy, Manish Tiwari, Rajni Patil, Anil Desai, and Sudip Bandopadhyay among others.