India could become a leading shipbuilding nation within a decade, a senior economic adviser told reports on 24 September 2026.

Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, said India currently builds less than one per cent of the world’s ships but possesses the elements required to scale up to become a credible fourth-largest shipbuilder over the next ten years. The observation was reported on 24 September 2026.

Mr Sanyal pointed to India’s standing as the world’s second-largest steel producer and a plentiful labour force as central strengths that could be harnessed to expand shipbuilding capacity. He described those features as part of the country’s “ingredients” for growth in the sector, according to the report.

Key facts from the report include:

  • India currently accounts for under one per cent of global shipbuilding by output.
  • The country is the world’s second-largest steel producer.
  • A large domestic labour pool is available to the industry.
  • Sanjeev Sanyal made the remarks on 24 September 2026 to reports.

Why India believes it can scale up

Steel is an essential raw material for conventional ship construction and India’s high steel output gives the country an important domestic input advantage, the report noted. The presence of a substantial domestic workforce was highlighted as a further enabling factor for rapid capacity expansion if investment and coordination follow.

Timeframe and the claim

The projection that India could reach a position among the top four shipbuilding nations is explicitly framed as a ten-year prospect in Mr Sanyal’s remarks. The adviser characterised the target as achievable over the next decade but did not set out specific policy measures or timelines in the account published by reports.

The report did not provide a breakdown of how output would rise, nor did it list the ship types, yard investments or international partnerships implied by a move to fourth place globally. It confined itself to the assessment that India has foundational advantages that could be converted into larger shipbuilding market share.

Any shift from present levels, under one per cent of world ship production, to a materially larger share would require sustained mobilisation of capital, supply chains and technical skills, elements the report implies but does not detail. The reports item is an account of Mr Sanyal’s assessment rather than a government blueprint or industry plan.

Sanyal’s comments form part of an ongoing public conversation about how national industrial strengths might be channelled into strategic manufacturing sectors. The adviser’s view, as carried by reports on 24 September 2026, presents an optimistic assessment of India’s prospects in shipbuilding while leaving open the question of how rapidly and by what means that ambition might be realised.