Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a ceremony to dedicate frontline naval combatants INS Surat, INS Nilgiri and INS Vaghsheer to the nation, at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai. (Source: X/ @narendramodi)
Jan 17, 2025 07:32 IST First published on: Jan 17, 2025 at 07:30 IST
In a symbolically significant ceremony, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated three frontline naval platforms to the nation on January 15 in Mumbai. A major destroyer, a frigate and a submarine were commissioned on the same day and this is unprecedented. The three platforms — the destroyer INS Surat, frigate INS Nilgiri and submarine INS Vagsheer — have been built in India at the Mazagon Docks and will burnish the current focus on “atmanirbharta”.
Recalling India’s maritime heritage going back to the Chola dynasty (3-12 CE) and that of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj who gallantly resisted the colonial powers at sea, Modi tweeted: “Today’s India is emerging as a major maritime power in the world.” It was also highlighted that this triple commissioning is a significant leap forward towards self-reliance and that INS Surat, the fourth and final ship of the P15B Guided Missile Destroyer Project, which ranks among the largest and most advanced destroyers in the world, has an indigenous content of 75 per cent.
The assertions by PM Modi about India’s maritime profile in the larger global context and the laudatory claims about the navy having achieved a considerable degree of indigenisation in warship building need to be placed in the appropriate context. The US is the world’s leading naval power. The composite naval capability of the US is distinctive and while Russia and China have significant naval capability, the former is in relative decline and the latter has not yet “arrived” to be deemed a global naval power.
In the regional context, related to the Indo-Pacific, China is undoubtedly the major naval and maritime power and India is a distant second. While the total number of major naval platforms (surface ships and submarines) is one metric, a more recent assessment that deduces naval power in a more holistic manner which includes inventory, logistics, indigenisation index and operational experience provides an instructive insight. Termed as True Value Rating (TrV), the following distillation is self-explanatory. The US is estimated to have a total of 243 major naval units and its TrV is the highest at 323.9. In comparison, China is a close second at 422 platforms and 319.8 TrV and India is at number seven position in this ranking with 103 units and a TrV of 100.5.
The fine print of the ranking may be disputed but the broad trendlines are valid. While the Indian navy is indeed highly credible and its professionalism acknowledged, it is a modest force and in dire need of sustained material and technology infusion.
Here again, the numbers tell their own tale. As per SIPRI figures for 2023, the US defence allocation was $916 billion, China $ 330 bn and India $84 bn. It is estimated that the US and China allocate upwards of 25 per cent for their respective navies, while in the Indian case this figure hovers at 17 to 18 per cent of the total defence spend.
Thus, while India has the pedigree and potential to be a major maritime power, this objective is as yet aspirational. With a favourable maritime geography, India has till recently remained tenaciously sea-blind and it is to PM Modi’s credit that he was able to envision and articulate a maritime profile as a national objective. In 2015, Modi introduced the acronym SAGAR (security and growth for all) in the Indian Ocean region (IOR) to the national policy lexicon and this is being slowly realised.
In his remarks at the January 15 commissioning, PM Modi drew attention to the navy being a first responder in the IOR and reiterated that India “has always supported an open, secure, inclusive, and prosperous Indo-Pacific Region.” The unstated reference to China and its growing footprint and assertiveness in the maritime domain was deftly highlighted and here again, some numbers frame the challenge for India.
Specific to the 7400-ton INS Surat, it was proudly claimed that the keel was laid in November 2019 and the ship launched in May 2022 — a record-breaking 31 months. While this is indeed praiseworthy in the Indian context, the contrast with China is striking. In 2024, a Chinese shipyard completed the same process for a 4000-ton frigate (Type 54A) in 4.5 months.
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India is not at the same level of shipbuilding technology and manufacturing competence but it has to invest in this sector and improve efficiency levels if it is to realise the Modi maritime vision. Concurrently a reality check about the quality of indigenisation is imperative. For instance, the 75 per cent indigenisation figure claimed for INS Surat masks the fact that most of the critical ordnance package that makes the vessel a potent warship is obtained from foreign suppliers. The only success that India has had to date is the Brahmos missile and this is commendable but has to be scaled up.
Indigenous R&D and acquiring design proficiency in core areas of military capability remain a sluggish work in progress. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh must pick up this gauntlet and enable substantive output in a sustainable manner for meaningful “atmanirbharta” to be attained. Or else, spectacle will subsume the Indian defence narrative.
The writer is director, Society for Policy Studies, New Delhi
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