Cochin Shipyard is entering a new phase of expansion with a record order book, a growing presence in international markets and large investments in ship repair infrastructure. The company’s order book has crossed ₹21,900 crore, backed mainly by defence contracts and export orders, even as management expects profitability margins to moderate over the next two years.
The Kochi-based public sector shipbuilder is also stepping up investments in ship repair, new shipyard facilities and international partnerships as it seeks to build a broader maritime business beyond conventional shipbuilding.
The company’s total order book has risen from about ₹21,100 crore a year earlier to more than ₹21,900 crore.
Of this:
Shipbuilding accounts for about ₹20,700 crore
Ship repair contributes another ₹1,200 crore
The shipbuilding order book covers 78 vessels
Defence contracts form the largest component, highlighting the continuing benefits for Cochin Shipyard from India’s push for indigenous defence manufacturing.
About ₹11,900 crore, or 54 percent of the shipbuilding order book, comes from 11 defence vessels.
The company has also emerged as the lowest bidder for a contract worth nearly ₹5,000 crore to build five next-generation survey vessels for the Indian Navy.
Cochin Shipyard’s defence portfolio already includes some of India’s most significant naval projects. Its past work includes:
INS Vikrant, India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier
20 fast patrol vessels for the Coast Guard
Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvettes currently under construction
The shipyard is also working on hydrogen fuel-cell-powered container vessels, reflecting the growing focus on cleaner marine technologies.
Commercial exports are emerging as another major growth driver.
Cochin Shipyard has orders worth about ₹7,200 crore for 31 commercial vessels, accounting for roughly 33 percent of the shipbuilding order book. These include environment-friendly vessels being built for European customers.
Domestic commercial orders account for another ₹1,600 crore covering 36 vessels.
This gives the company a more diversified order pipeline, with defence, exports and domestic commercial shipbuilding all contributing to future revenue.
Cochin Shipyard is increasingly positioning ship repair as a key growth business.
The ₹2,770 crore expansion project inaugurated in January 2024 has substantially increased its capacity. A major component is the ₹970 crore International Ship Repair Facility (ISRF), which can handle repairs of up to 82 mid-sized vessels a year.
The company has also commissioned a new large dry dock costing about ₹1,800 crore.
The facility is capable of building and repairing large aircraft carriers and Suezmax vessels, opening up a much larger market for the shipyard.
Cochin Shipyard is taking its ship-repair business beyond Kochi.
The company is forming a 50:50 joint venture worth ₹1,800 crore with DDW, a DP World group company, to expand the ISRF business internationally.
It is also developing a second ship-repair cluster at Vadinar in Gujarat in partnership with Deendayal Port Authority.
The project is expected to involve an investment of about ₹1,570 crore, including around ₹920 crore from Cochin Shipyard. The facility will have two large floating docks.
In addition:
A new hybrid shipyard is being developed at Thoothukudi with an investment of more than ₹280 crore
Cochin Shipyard has acquired a 23 percent stake in Dutch company Conoship International
A new joint venture with HBL is being developed for marine electric technology
The company has invested a total of ₹345 crore in infrastructure across its two wholly owned subsidiaries.
Karnataka-based Udupi Cochin Shipyard has an order book of about ₹2,100 crore and recorded revenue of ₹618 crore in FY26.
Hooghly Cochin Shipyard has an order book of ₹200 crore and reported FY26 revenue of ₹123 crore.
Cochin Shipyard reported revenue of ₹5,021 crore and profit after tax of ₹716 crore in FY26.
Shipbuilding contributed about 67 percent of revenue, while ship repair accounted for the remaining 33 percent.
The company's market value has also expanded sharply since its IPO in 2017:
Market capitalisation at IPO: about ₹6,000 crore
Market capitalisation subsequently crossed: ₹40,500 crore
Return delivered to shareholders: more than 417 percent
The growth story comes with a near-term profitability concern. Cochin Shipyard management expects EBITDA margin to moderate to around 14 percent over the next two financial years, compared with 16.2 percent in FY26.
The guidance triggered a sharp reaction in the stock, which fell more than 8 percent following the management commentary. The margin pressure is one reason why ICICI Direct Research downgraded the stock from 'Buy' to 'Hold'.
At the latest market price cited by the company, its market capitalisation stood at about ₹36,343 crore.
Cochin Shipyard expects the ship-repair business to become considerably larger over the next few years.
Management expects:
Ship-repair revenue to rise to around ₹2,500 crore within three years
The existing order book to generate 12-15 percent revenue growth over the next two years
Higher capacity utilisation to support the expansion
International partnerships to widen its access to global ship-repair markets
For Cochin Shipyard, the opportunity is therefore no longer limited to building ships for the Indian Navy. Defence spending, exports, ship repair, green vessels and overseas partnerships are gradually turning the company into a broader maritime engineering and services player.
The key challenge will be converting the large order pipeline into revenue while protecting margins as the company scales up.
