Two firms emerge front-runners as govt begins ₹70K-cr sub deal talks
MDL and tkMS lead a ₹70,000-crore project to build six advanced submarines for India, enhancing navy's capabilities amid regional tensions.
Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) and German yard Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (tkMS), have emerged as the frontrunner for a ₹70,000-crore project to build six advanced submarines in India to sharpen the navy’s underwater capabilities, edging out their only competitor the Larsen & Toubro-Navantia combine that did not meet the navy’s requirements, people aware of the matter said on Thursday.

Commercial negotiations for the project called P-75I will now follow, the people added.
The Mumbai-based MDL on Thursday informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that the defence ministry has opened its commercial bid for P-75I for “further processing.” It also informed the BSE that commercial negotiations for building three additional Scorpene class submarines are in process. MDL has already built six Kalvari-class (Scorpene) diesel-electric attack submarines under P-75, with technology transfer from the French firm, Naval Group.
P-75I will take time to mature. If all goes well after a contract is awarded, the first submarine will be delivered to the navy only after seven years with the rest following at the rate of one per year, HT has learnt.
These advanced submarines, a variant of HDW Class 214 vessels, will come with air independent propulsion (AIP) systems. AIP significantly increases a submarine’s underwater endurance and reduces the risk of detection. tkMS will transfer the submarine’s design and technology to India, enabling the goal of self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector, as previously reported by HT.
The first submarine under P-75I must have a minimum of 45% indigenisation, with the local content going up to 60% in the sixth.
Last month, defence ministry signed two separate contracts worth ₹2,867 crore to strengthen the Indian Navy’s underwater capabilities - for retrofitting its Kalvari-class submarines with AIP systems to enhance their endurance, and integration of electronic heavy-weight torpedoes (EHWT) to boost their firepower capabilities.
The ministry signed a ₹1,990-crore contract with MDL for the construction of AIP plug for the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)-AIP system and its integration on the conventional submarines, and another contract worth ₹877 crore with Frances’s Naval Group for integration of the torpedoes to augment firepower capabilities of the Kalvari-Class submarines.
These submarines are capable of various missions such as anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, long-range strikes, special operations, and intelligence.
The development comes at a time when China is modernising its navy with new platforms, including submarines, and seeking to boost its influence in the vast Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The challenges in this strategic maritime expanse include China’s carefully calculated power play for influence and defending the rules-based international order. India has also approved two nuclear-powered submarines to be designed and constructed indigenously. The first submarine is expected to be ready by 2036-37 and the second one two years thereafter. The navy’s overall plan is to deploy six such nuclear-powered conventionally armed submarines.
The navy’s submarine strength is dwindling rapidly and apart from the six new Scorpenes, the rest of the force is quite old and obsolescent, said former navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash (retd), making a case for modernising India’s underwater capabilities.
“The numbers should come up and we need to put AIP-equipped submarines at sea as soon as possible. It’s important that we conclude this deal soon and start producing these submarines in India. Our submarine strength is running down in comparison to our adversaries. Pakistan is also getting Chinese submarines soon,” he added.
The AIP system will be retrofitted when it’s ready and the submarines come for refit.