New Delhi: India is on course to commission up to 19 warships in 2026, the highest single-year induction in its naval history, capping a decade in which more than 40 vessels were built and inducted through Indian shipyards in what naval planners describe as a structural shift from episodic acquisition to continuous production.
The latest additions to the fleet, stealth frigate INS Taragiri and nuclear ballistic missile submarine INS Aridhaman, are part of that larger pattern. The Indian Navy today fields between 135 and 145 ships and submarines, up from a force that grew only fitfully in the preceding decades. More than 50 vessels are currently under construction across Indian shipyards.
By 2035, the fleet is projected to expand to between 175 and 200 platforms, according to naval planning estimates.
The pace of construction has itself changed. Shipbuilding timelines have been compressed from eight to nine years to nearly six through integrated construction practices, allowing multiple long-gestation programmes to mature at the same time. The result is that several major platforms, each requiring years of design, build and trials, are now reaching commissioning together rather than in isolation.
The capability additions over the decade span the full spectrum of naval warfare. India has inducted multiple guided missile destroyers and frigates, operationalised its first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, and established a three-boat nuclear deterrent at sea with INS Arihant, INS Arighat and INS Aridhaman. These platforms are equipped for network-centric operations and long-range precision strike, including through the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.
Alongside frontline combatants, the Navy has inducted offshore patrol vessels, survey ships, landing platforms and anti-submarine warfare assets, building the support infrastructure required for sustained deployments. This layer of expansion has enabled persistent presence across key sea lanes in the Indian Ocean region.
Parallel to its ballistic missile submarine programme, India in 2024 received government approval to construct nuclear-powered attack submarines under Project SSN. The programme is currently in the design and pre-construction phase, with building activity expected to begin toward the end of the decade at Visakhapatnam. The first vessel is projected to be inducted around 2036-37, with additional submarines to follow at regular intervals. Until that capability matures, India is expected to rely on leased nuclear submarines to bridge the gap.
The expansion has taken place against a backdrop of evolving maritime pressures. In May last year, The Sunday Guardian outlined a projected 2040 scenario in which India could face a coordinated naval challenge involving China, Pakistan and Türkiye, pointing to the possibility of a multi-axis pressure environment across the Indian Ocean and adjoining theatres.
The cumulative result is a navy that today fields a carrier battle group, a growing nuclear submarine fleet and a pipeline of missile-armed surface combatants, supported by a domestic shipbuilding ecosystem now capable of sustaining continuous output.
Pakistan and China, the two principal maritime competitors in India’s extended neighbourhood, present sharply different scales of challenge.
Pakistan operates an estimated 70 to 80 naval platforms, with a force structure centred on submarines and a limited number of modern frigates, including Chinese-origin Type 054A/P vessels. Its strategy remains focused on sea denial in the Arabian Sea, with future expansion tied to additional Hangor-class submarines and Turkish-assisted surface combatants.
China, by contrast, fields the world’s largest navy through the People’s Liberation Army Navy, with an estimated 370 to 400 ships and submarines, including three aircraft carriers, around 60 to 70 submarines and more than 150 major surface combatants. This scale, combined with overseas basing and sustained shipbuilding capacity, positions China as a full-spectrum maritime power, defining the competitive environment India is seeking to match in capability, if not in absolute numbers.
