Visakhapatnam HSL gears up for revival

HSL is the first ISO-9001 ship building company in the country. It was transferred to the MoD in 2010 to facilitate construction of sophisticated warships, submarines and strategic vessels for the Indian Navy and Coast Guard.

However, there have been not many orders, and the MoD-controlled shipyard has been facing severe cash crunch.

At present, HSL has an order book of a meagre Rs 1,500 crore whereas its needs at least Rs 5,000 crore for breaking even. At this juncture, HSL has jumped into the race to bag a project of the Indian Navy- P-75 (I) to build six next generation submarines at a cost of Rs 60,000 crore.

Vizag’s cash-strapped Hindustan Shipyard, hoped to become financially strong by bagging the order for which BHEL, Midhani and HSL formed a consortium for building submarines last December.

Along with defence controlled yards, private sector Pipavav Yard, L & T, and ABG yards are also in the race to bag the project. The high-level committee appointed by the MoD, visited all these shipyards to assess them to place the order. A report on P-75 (I) is expected to be submitted by the panel shortly.

Meanwhile, HSL management here is preparing a proposal to be sent to the MoD for the yard’s revival.

“We are preparing the proposals to be sent to the Union government on revival of HSL. It will be sent shortly. HSL has a vibrant eco system,” said HSL, CMD, Rear Admiral (retd) N.K .Mishra.

Mishra also met Vizag MP, K. Haribabu on Sunday. HSL is also expected to submit a Request For Proposal (RFP) to MoD to bag a project to build two mini submarines for the Indian Navy at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore each. The final order is expected by the year end.