Government of India owned naval shipbuilder, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd, has a record order book of ₹22,930 crore. This is for seven shipbuilding projects, two of which are expected to be completed in the current year. The other five will be executed in 2024-25.
On the basis of the order book at the execution plan, the company expects its turnover to be more than double of what it was in 2021-22.
Going by trajectory
At a press conference here today, the company’s Chairman and Managing Director, Commodore P R Hari, did not say that the turnover would double; however, he pointed out that the company’s turnover in the first half of the current year, at ₹1,262 crore, was 74 per cent over that of the corresponding period of last year, and ₹1,748 crore in the full year 2021-22. He indicated that projected turnover for the next two years would be on the same trajectory.
Post tax profit (PAT) for the first half of the current year increased to ₹109 crore, from ₹79 crore previously. Earnings per share rose to ₹9.51, from ₹6.93. On the NSE today, the GRSE share closed at ₹491.95, compared with ₹254 on June 1, and 52-week low of ₹179.
Thrust on indigenisation
Commodore Hari noted that the Centre’s push for defence procurement from local manufacturers was helpful. “41 warships are being built for the Navy now; 39 of them are being built in India,” he said.
He said all five government-owned shipyards (others being Cochin, Mazagon, Goa and Hindustan Shipyard at Visakhapatnam) and private shipbuilders like L&T, are all fully loaded with work.
West Bengal ferry
Commodore Hari said he was “eagerly looking forward” to the completion of a riverine electric passenger vessel that Garden Reach is building for West Bengal.government. “This will open up more orders,” he said, adding that while the value of the vessel—₹10 crore—is not very high, electric vessels are the need of the hour.