INS Samarthak Entered Indian Navy Service on 16 October 2026 as the First Major Warship Built by an Indian Private Shipyard, Larsen & Toubro at Kattupalli

On 16 October 2026 the Indian Navy commissioned INS Samarthak at its Karwar base in Karnataka. The Ministry of Defence’s release calls it the first major warship built by an Indian private shipyard: Larsen & Toubro (L&T) designed and built the multi-purpose vessel at its Kattupalli yard near Chennai, and the ministry puts its indigenous content at over 75 percent.

The Vice-President presided over the ceremony, according to the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the government’s press office. The Chief of the Naval Staff, a Karnataka state minister, L&T representatives and the makers of the indigenous equipment were there too. The Navy had taken delivery of the ship at Kattupalli on 27 August, 50 days earlier.

A test bed for Indian-made sensors and weapons

Samarthak is a trials ship. PIB’s commissioning release describes it as a versatile platform for trials and evaluation, and says its induction strengthens India’s ability to test and train new sensors and weapons developed by domestic industry. The same release lists maritime surveillance and reconnaissance, offshore patrolling, and disaster relief and humanitarian aid as further tasks.

Reporting by the Press Trust of India (PTI), carried by ThePrint, adds detail from the ceremony. The Chief of the Naval Staff said the ship has a dynamic positioning system, which uses computer-controlled thrusters to hold a ship in place, and can launch and recover the targets used in warship exercises at sea. PTI also lists heavy-towing equipment, medical facilities and firefighting capability for helping ships in distress.

PIB’s 2026 releases translate the name as “The Proponent,” while the 2024 launch release and L&T give “Supporter.”

From a 2022 contract to a 2026 commissioning

Six dates mark the project, all taken from PIB releases unless noted, and the span from contract to commissioning is a little over four and a half years.

• 25 March 2022: the Ministry of Defence signs a contract with L&T for two multi-purpose vessels, worth ₹887 crore under the Buy (Indian) category, according to the ministry’s 2022 year-end review.
• 20 March 2023: keels laid for both ships at Kattupalli, Samarthak as Yard 18001 and Utkarsh as Yard 18002. The release said all major machinery, auxiliary equipment and systems would come from indigenous manufacturers.
• 14 October 2024: Samarthak launched.
• 13 January 2025: Utkarsh launched.
• 27 August 2026: Samarthak delivered to the Navy.
• 16 October 2026: Samarthak commissioned.

From contract to delivery took four years and five months. The commissioning release says modular construction and pre-outfitting, meaning sections of the ship are built and fitted with equipment before they are joined, significantly optimised the build process and construction timelines. It adds that the project contributed to employment generation and capability development.

L&T’s delivery release says the ship was “conceptualised, engineered and built entirely in-house” at its Warship Design Centre and Shipyard at Kattupalli. The Navy chief, in the PTI account, called the commissioning a step toward self-reliance.

What “first” means here

PIB’s wording is “the first major warship to be built by an Indian private shipyard.” The Chief of the Naval Staff, as PTI reports him, was more specific: Samarthak is the first major warship “contracted to and constructed by a private shipyard.” The narrower wording matters because a private yard had already worked on other Navy ships as a subcontractor.

PIB’s June 2023 release on the survey vessel Sanshodhak shows how. The contract for four large survey vessels went to Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) of Kolkata on 30 October 2018. GRSE built the first ship, and the other three were built up to the outfitting stage at L&T’s Kattupalli yard under a subcontract. The 2023 keel-laying release called Samarthak and Utkarsh the first Navy warships being built by L&T at Kattupalli, and the 2022 year-end review records that the contract for them was signed directly with L&T.

One sister ship or three?

Four official releases, covering the 2022 contract, the 2023 keel laying and both launches, describe a project of two multi-purpose vessels. The commissioning release calls Samarthak “first of class” and gives no total. All India Radio, PTI and the Deccan Chronicle, reporting the ceremony, each call it the first of four.

tuput found no release describing a contract for four multi-purpose vessels. L&T’s own account is that its Kattupalli yard is now building the second multi-purpose vessel and three cadet training ships for the Navy. Those are a different design, ordered under a separate Union Cabinet approval worth ₹3,108.09 crore in March 2023. The first of them, Krishna, was launched on 16 February 2026.

The ship’s size is also reported in different ways. PIB’s 2024 launch release gave 106 metres in length and 16.8 metres in width, with a top speed of 15 knots. Marine Insight and Baird Maritime, writing about the August delivery, give about 107 metres, a beam of 18.6 metres and a displacement above 3,750 tonnes. The Deccan Chronicle’s commissioning report said about 5,000 tonnes. The commissioning release gives no figures.

What comes next

Utkarsh, the sister ship launched in January 2025, was reported by Marine Insight and Baird Maritime to be in tests and sea trials when Samarthak was handed over. Both outlets also report that delivery of the first ship had originally been planned for May 2025 and that the schedule was later revised. tuput found no published delivery date for Utkarsh.

At the ceremony, PTI reports, the Chief of the Naval Staff said “Even a very successful maiden achievement can give us useful pointers to strengthen our efforts in the long term,” and stressed drawing lessons from the construction to improve build quality and reduce construction timelines. He said the ship would reinforce India’s role as “a first responder and preferred security partner in the region,” a theme covered in this magazine’s piece on the Navy and the Indian Ocean.

Samarthak is part of a larger induction year. On 29 September the Defence Minister told the Navy’s Commanders’ Conference that 18 warships were planned for induction or commissioning in 2026, and that recently commissioned ships carry over 75 percent indigenous content, All India Radio reported. The nine commissionings from 27 February to 12 October are listed separately, and the longer shift in India’s defence industry from importer to maker is covered elsewhere.

PIB said in February that formal delivery of the first cadet training ship, Krishna, is planned for the end of 2026.