On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted INS Vikrant, the indigenous aircraft carrier, into the Indian Navy. It has been built by the Cochin Shipyard, and is worth Rs. 20 thousand crores. What is noteworthy is that because of being made in India and the usage of 76% of India-made material in its making, 80-85% of the money returned to the Indian economy. Even the steel used in its making was made in India.
As a result of its making in India, two thousand workers in the shipyard and thirteen thousand people in total received employment. Not only is INS Vikrant the largest ship made in India, it is also the largest Indian ship. Prior to its making, the Cochin Shipyard had only the experience of building INS Virat.
Madhu A Nair, MD, Cochin Shipyard said that they turned all the challenges into opportunities and started from zero. Looking at the gigantic size of the carrier and the large scale of the project, more than five thousand changes were made in the basic plan.
“This project is the one which expanded the horizons of the Indian ship building industry and motivated us to achieve what we had never imagined to”, Nair added.
He further revealed that now, such a carrier can be built in a span of eight years, while INS Vikrant took thirteen years to be completed. And while such a work was considered to be male-centric, INS Vikrant brought an end to the gender boundaries as well. Three hundred women workers were involved in its making.
