India issues tender for Rs 50,000 crore project to build six submarines

In a major boost for the Indian Navy and Make in India, the Defence Ministry on Tuesday issued a tender expected to be worth around Rs 50,000 crores for building six conventional submarines under Project-75 India.

"The tender has been issued today for the construction of the six conventional diesel-electric submarines within the country. The tender has been issued to the Mazagon Dockyards Limited and Larsen and Toubro," Defence sources.

The two Indian companies identified as the strategic partner would now select one partner each from the five global original equipment manufacturers including firms from France, Germany, Russia, South Korea and Spain, they added.

Clearance for issuing the tender or the request for proposal (RFP) was given in a meeting of the defence acquisition council chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on June 4.

Under Project 75-India, the Navy will build six conventional diesel-electric submarines that would be bigger than the under-construction Scorpene-class submarines being built at the Mazagon Dockyards Limited in Mumbai.

The submarines would be equipped with heavy-duty firepower so that the boats will have at least 12 Land Attack Cruise Missiles (LACM) along with Anti-Ship cruise missiles (ASCM).

The project is being carried out under the strategic partnership model which aims at promoting India as a manufacturing hub for defence equipment, in addition to establishing an industrial and R&D eco-system capable of meeting the future requirements of the Armed Forces besides giving a boost to exports.