Recently, South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries announced the signing of a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for cooperation in shipbuilding and offshore business with India’s largest shipyard, Swan Defence & Heavy Industries.
Samsung Heavy Industries expects that through this cooperation, it will establish a production base in the rapidly growing Indian shipbuilding and offshore market and gradually expand its business scope. Samsung Heavy Industries stated that the Indian government hopes to actively cultivate its domestic shipbuilding industry by leveraging the increase in maritime logistics volume, which is also an opportunity factor for Samsung Heavy Industries.
Swan Defence & Heavy Industries is located in Gujarat state in northwestern India and possesses India’s largest dry dock, capable of building Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) and offshore equipment. The dock measures 662 meters in length, 65 meters in width, with a maximum water depth of 20 meters. Based on this, Samsung Heavy Industries plans to promote cooperation plans for new ship design, procurement, production management (EPM), and offshore projects.
It is reported that Swan Defence & Heavy Industries was previously named Reliance Naval & Engineering and Pipavav Shipyard, with its origins tracing back to a shipyard established in 1997. In 2015, the Indian corporate giant Reliance Group acquired a 17% stake in the shipyard for $130 million. Subsequently, Reliance Group launched a public offer to acquire more shares to gain control of the shipyard. After the offer was completed, Reliance Infrastructure, under the Reliance Group, held a 36% stake in the shipyard. In 2016, the shipyard was renamed Reliance Defence & Engineering, and in 2017, it was renamed again to Reliance Naval & Engineering (RNaval).
During its peak, the shipyard delivered 5 Panamax bulk carriers. Simultaneously, it was the first private shipyard in India to obtain licenses and orders for building naval warships.
In 2019, Reliance Group was unable to repay loans, and its banks initiated insolvency proceedings to recover approximately $1.2 billion in debt. In 2022, Indian oil and gas company Swan Energy and Hazel Infra stepped in and completed the takeover of the shipyard, officially renaming it Swan Defence & Heavy Industries in 2023.
Swan Energy plans to invest $500 million to renovate the shipyard, focusing on the construction of bulk carriers, tankers, and gas carriers to restore its former glory.
After multiple changes in equity and restructuring, Swan Defence & Heavy Industries ultimately became India’s largest shipyard and was re-listed in January 2025. The company’s director, Vivek Merchant, stated: “The resumption of trading in Swan Defence & Heavy Industries shares marks our successful transformation of the former shipyard into a globally leading maritime hub. This move enhances India’s position in the global shipbuilding industry.”
Currently, the Indian government is fully advancing a development blueprint to increase India’s share of the global shipbuilding market from the current less than 1% to the tenth position globally by 2030 and to leap to the fifth position globally by 2047. It has introduced the “Maritime India Vision 2030” and the “Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047,” and has also established a Maritime Development Fund of approximately 250 billion rupees (about 4 trillion KRW, $29 billion) to provide comprehensive policy support for improving the domestic shipbuilding industry’s level in infrastructure construction, technology development, talent cultivation, and financial assistance for large ships.
The Indian government plans to increase the number of ships in its domestic fleet from the current about 1,500 to 2,500 ships, not only expanding the scale of the container transport fleet but also focusing on various commercial ship sectors such as LNG carriers, Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC), and car carriers.
Although India has 28 shipbuilding enterprises, most focus on building small and medium-sized vessels like coastal cruise ships. It cannot independently build large vessels such as large container ships, VLCCs, and car carriers, so it must expand its construction capacity.
To this end, India has sent an “SOS” signal to the South Korean shipbuilding industry, which possesses world-class technology and infrastructure, strongly inviting South Korean shipbuilders to actively invest and collaborate to establish shipbuilding and ship repair industry clusters locally.
India hopes to cultivate a shipbuilding industry cluster domestically through cooperation with South Korea. India aims to leverage the capabilities of South Korean shipbuilders, combined with its own shipyard possessing the optimal infrastructure, to carry out demonstration projects, and subsequently disseminate the accumulated technical experience to other domestic shipyards.
In July of this year, South Korea’s HD Hyundai Group signed a “Long-term Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement (MOU) in the Shipbuilding Sector” with India’s Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL). The two parties will promote strategic cooperation in multiple areas, including providing design and procurement assistance to Cochin Shipyard, conducting technical cooperation to improve its production efficiency and ensure global-level quality, and enhancing labor skill levels and strengthening the training system. In particular, they have also decided to jointly explore ship order opportunities in Indian and overseas markets.
The signing of the strategic MOU for shipbuilding and offshore business cooperation between Samsung Heavy Industries and Swan Defence & Heavy Industries has significantly advanced the process of cooperation between the South Korean and Indian shipbuilding industries. It is reported that Hanwha Ocean is also conducting specific discussions with the Indian government and major shipyards regarding cooperation in technology and design fields.
According to predictions by the global market research firm FineExtra Research, the Indian shipbuilding industry market will grow from $90 million (approximately 1.325 trillion KRW) in 2022 to $8.12 billion (approximately 11.0955 trillion KRW) by 2033.
Samsung Heavy Industries stated that through this strategic cooperation with the Indian shipyard, it is accelerating the expansion of its global shipbuilding and offshore business network. In July of last year and August of this year, Samsung Heavy Industries established cooperative relationships with China’s Pacific Marine Engineering (Zhoushan) Co., Ltd. and the American shipbuilder Vigor Marine Group, respectively. By entering the Indian market this time, Samsung Heavy Industries has further strengthened its business foundation in key global bases.
Kim Seong-kyeong, Vice President and Head of the Production Support Headquarters at Samsung Heavy Industries, said: “This cooperation is the best model where technology and market combine, enabling both parties to achieve a Win-Win situation. Samsung Heavy Industries will continue to strive to create new future growth opportunities.”
Vipin Kumar Saxena, CEO of Swan Defence & Heavy Industries, stated: “We are pleased to cooperate with Samsung Heavy Industries and look forward to jointly creating new business opportunities in the shipbuilding and offshore sectors.”
