Mazagon Dock moves into ₹15,000-crore yard merchant shipbuilding in Andhra’s Dugarajapatnam

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu receives a model warship from Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Chairman and Managing Director Capt. Jagmohan (retd) at the Secretariat on Friday after the two sides signed an MoU for the ₹15,000 crore greenfield shipyard at Dugarajapatnam in Tirupati district. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL), the Ministry of Defence’s Navratna shipbuilder, will build a shipyard at Dugarajapatnam in Tirupati district that can produce 1.2 million gross tonnes of merchant ships annually. It signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state-owned National Shipbuilding and Heavy Industries Park-Andhra Pradesh (NSHIP-AP) on Friday (September 18, 2026).

MDL will invest about ₹15,000 crore over five to seven years and the project is expected to create about 45,000 direct and indirect jobs, the government said in a release. The MoU was signed at the Secretariat in the presence of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. NSHIP-AP is a special purpose vehicle owned equally by Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board and Visakhapatnam Port Authority.

I am delighted to welcome Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited to Andhra Pradesh! PSU Navratna Defense PSU will anchor a modern greenfield shipyard in Dugarajapatnam with an investment of around ₹ 15,000 crore over the next 5-7 years and the potential to create nearly 45,000 direct… pic.twitter.com/GxQDLsiwxs

— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) September 18, 2026

The yard will build tankers, bulk carriers, container ships, liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and other large specialist vessels for both the domestic and export markets, with room to expand capacity if demand increases.

The state wants a shipbuilding and port cluster in Dugarajapatnam and the techno-economic feasibility report puts the shipbuilding and repair yard at ₹29,254 crore and the port at ₹9,513 crore. The Center approved the port and its development; the cluster falls under the Union Shipbuilding Development Plan and NSHIP-AP has chosen MDL as its anchor yard. The report does not say how the shipyard’s costs of over ₹15,000 million MDL are to be met.

Mr. Naidu included the project in the national goal set in the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, which is to make India one of the world’s top five shipbuilding nations by 2047. “Andhra Pradesh is committed to spearheading this journey by leveraging its long coastline, strategic location and industrial ecosystem,” he said. The cluster would make the state a major shipbuilding hub and attract ancillary industries and create jobs in shipbuilding, marine engineering, manufacturing and logistics, he said.

Captain Jagmohan (retd), chairman and managing director of MDL, said Dugarajapatnam has the scale and maritime potential for a globally competitive shipyard.

The Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board will provide the land and infrastructure and secure the statutory clearances the project needs, the release said.

BC Roads and Buildings Minister Janardhan Reddy, Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board Chairman Damacharla Satya, Visakhapatnam Port Authority Chairman Jasmeet Singh Bindra and senior officials were present.

With inputs from PTI

Published – 18 Sep 2026 16:13 IST