Global shipbuilding concentrated among a few players, but India is catching up: The winds of change
Sanghamitra
August 5, 2026
While Indian shipyards did construct some merchant tonnage under license regimes and subsidy schemes, the emphasis stayed on building capacity fot Navy and Coast Guard, not for the commercial global market. The long term result was that Indian commercial shipbuilding never developed the scale, supply-chain depth or export orientation that enabled East Asian yards to capture the world’s merchant fleet.