From a Small Dry Dock to India's Warship Builder: The 250-Year Story of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited

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Long before India had a navy of its own, a small dry dock stood at Mazagon, on the Mumbai waterfront. Its origins go back to the 18th century. The dockyard marked its 250th anniversary in 2024, which dates its beginnings to 1774.

For much of its early life, the yard sat under foreign ownership. It passed through the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company and later the British-India Steam Navigation Company. In 1934, it was registered as a public company, Mazagon Dock Limited.

1960: The Yard Becomes the Nation's

In 1960, the Government of India took over the shipyard, and it became a public sector undertaking. Today it operates under the Ministry of Defence from Wadi Bandar, Mazgaon, in Mumbai.

That change gave the yard a new purpose: to help a young country build the ships its navy would need.

The First Warship Made at Mazagon

The proof came in the 1960s. INS Nilgiri, the first warship built by Mazagon Dock, was launched on 15 October 1966 and commissioned on 23 June 1972. Five more frigates of the class followed over the next nine years.

From there, the yard took on bigger and more complex work:

Corvettes: INS Khukri was commissioned on 23 August 1989 and INS Kuthar on 7 June 1990.
Destroyers: INS Delhi was launched in February 1991 and commissioned on 15 November 1997. INS Mysore followed in 1999 and INS Mumbai in January 2001. The lead Kolkata-class destroyer was launched on 30 March 2006.
Submarines: INS Shalki, commissioned on 7 February 1992, and INS Shankul, commissioned on 28 May 1994, are described as India's first indigenously built submarines.

The yard describes itself as India's only shipyard building both destroyers and conventional submarines for the Indian Navy.

Building Submarines With Foreign Partners

In the 2000s and 2010s, Mazagon Dock took on a different kind of challenge: learning from partners abroad. Under a technology-transfer agreement with France's Naval Group, it built six Kalvari-class diesel-electric submarines. The lead boat, INS Kalvari, was commissioned on 14 December 2017.

The yard also continued to build surface warships. The lead Visakhapatnam-class destroyer was launched in 2018, and the lead Nilgiri-class frigate on 28 September 2019.

By its own count, Mazagon Dock has delivered 806 vessels since 1960, including 31 warships and 8 submarines, along with merchant ships and offshore structures. These are company-stated figures that I could not independently verify.

Going Public and Going Navratna

In 2020, Mazagon Dock listed on the BSE and NSE. Four years later, in 2024, it became India's 18th Navratna public sector company, a status that gives a state-owned company more operational and financial freedom.

The numbers reflect the scale. According to one market report, the yard posted revenue of about ₹11,432 crore and net profit of about ₹2,414 crore in FY25. Since that figure comes from a single secondary source, treat it as indicative rather than official.

Growing Beyond Mumbai

The yard has been expanding its reach.

Modernisation: It describes a ₹900 crore modernisation project aimed at raising capacity to 10 warships and 11 submarines.
Repair work: In September 2023, it became the second Indian shipyard, after L&T's Kattupalli yard, to sign a Master Ship Repair Agreement with the US Government.
Overseas: In June 2025, it announced a plan to acquire a 51 percent stake in Colombo Dockyard in Sri Lanka. One source says that was completed by April 2026 for ₹249.5 crore.
New shipyard: On 18 September 2026, it signed an MoU for a greenfield shipyard at Dugarajapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

On leadership, Captain Jagmohan (Retd) took over as Chairman and Managing Director on 21 April 2025

Its Marketing Approach: A Different Kind of Brand-Building

Mazagon Dock does not run consumer campaigns, and I found no verified advertising strategy. Its customer is the Indian Navy, and its reputation is built in other ways, which can be said honestly:

Delivered ships as the proof. Each launch and commissioning, from INS Nilgiri to INS Kalvari, works as the yard's public record.
Technology partnerships. Working with Naval Group on submarines and, per the yard, Fincantieri on frigates, it has opened doors to technology it can build on.
A rare combination. Few yards in India build both destroyers and conventional submarines, and the company makes that point about itself.
Status as a signal. The 2020 listing and 2024 Navratna designation tell investors, partners and customers where the company stands.

What Mazagon Dock Teaches Us

Few Indian businesses can point to a history that runs from the 1700s to a stock exchange listing and a submarine programme worth thousands of crores. Mazagon Dock's lesson is patience: first a yard under foreign owners, then a state-owned builder of frigates, then a submarine maker learning from partners, and now a listed company with international ambitions.

The ships keep getting more complex. The yard's task, as ever, is to build them.