Kolkata-based warship building PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE) has signed a contract worth ₹840 crore with the Ministry of Earth Sciences' National Centre for Polar & Ocean Research (NCPOR) for the construction and delivery of an Ocean Research Vessel (ORV).

Amid the development, shares of aerospace & defence PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers closed 2.51% at ₹2,560.25 on the BSE today after surging to the day's high of ₹2,589. At the current share price, the company's m-cap stands at ₹29,328.18 crore.

The company says it has the necessary expertise in survey vessels and has been building them for the Indian Navy for nearly four decades. "Even now, the Marine Acoustic Research Vessel INS Sagardhwani that was built by GRSE in 1994 is being refined at the shipyard. On December 4, 2023, GRSE delivered the INS Sandhayak – the largest survey vessel to be built in India- to the Navy."

The development comes amid the defence ministry notifying the fifth Positive Indigenisation List consisting of 346 items for Defence Public Sector Undertakings. In a boost to Aatmanirbharta in defence and minimising imports by the DPSUs, the defence ministry today notified the fifth PIL. "Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), BEML Limited, India Optel Limited (IOL), Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL), Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL), Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE) and Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) are the DPSUs involved in defence items of the fifth PIL," the ministry says.

The fifth PIL include strategically important line replacement units or systems or sub-systems or assemblies or sub-assemblies or spares, and components and raw materials, with import substitution value worth ₹1,048 crore.

Garden Reach Shipbuilders

Defence stock: Garden Reach Shipbuilders bags ₹840 cr order from govt; shares up 3%