Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) aims to increase its share of exports to 25-30 per cent of its total turnover in four to five years. Exports currently account for around seven per cent of its turnover, which stood close to ₹1,140 crore in FY-21.

According to Rear Admiral (retd) VK Saxena, Chairman and Managing Director, GRSE, the company wants to ramp up its commercial shipbuilding business to tap the growing demand in export markets.

“We have been the largest manufacturer of warships till recently and, till last year, our primary focus was defence. But we are now looking at non-defence ships, mainly aimed at exports and inland waterways. This segment should grow gradually since we have a strong intent, the necessary wherewithal and our cost is also lower,” Saxena told newspersons at a virtual press conference on Thursday.

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The country’s leading warship builder is looking to tap the Southeast Asian and Far East markets including the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh, among others. GRSE has already bagged orders for passenger-cum-cargo ships in Guyana (South America) and petrol boats for the fisheries department of Bangladesh.

“There is a lot of thrust by government on exports and it is also engaging with various countries, so it should help us. We are going full hog on grabbing orders and we hope to scale up the share of exports to 25-30 per cent in the next five years,” he said.

Business outlook

GRSE registered nearly 55 per cent growth in revenue from operation at ₹422 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, as against ₹272 crore same period last year. Sequentially, revenue improved by 39 per cent, as against ₹304 crore in Q1 FY22.

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The company witnessed a nearly 20 per cent drop in revenue at ₹1,141 crore in FY-21, as compared to ₹1,433 crore in FY-20, primarily due to Covid-induced disruption in supply chain and manpower challenges.

According to Saxena, the company relooked its internal processes to lower costs.

The company currently has an order book of around ₹25,000 crore, and 12 ships out of 17 are in various stages of construction.

“We are on the growth path. In 2022 there will be a number of deliveries and new launches, so we expect a good growth in revenues,” he said.

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