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The Union finance ministry has approved a ₹70,000-crore deal to construct next-generation conventional submarines in the country to sharpen the navy’s underwater capabilities, paving the way for final clearance by the Prime Minister-headed Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), senior officials aware of the matter said on Thursday.

The induction of the nuclear submarine is going to further strengthen the capability of the forces. (X/ @JM_Scindia)The CCS will soon consider the proposal for building six advanced submarines under Project-75I before the deal is signed, the officials said, asking not to be named.

The contract will be signed under the new Navy chief, Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, who will take charge on May 31. He will succeed Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, who retires after four decades of service. The navy’s modernisation and sharpening its operational edge will be among Swaminathan’s top priorities.

Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) and German yard thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (tkMS) will build the submarines in Mumbai.

The first submarine under the P-75I contract will be delivered to the navy 7 years after the contract is signed, with the remaining submarines delivered at the rate of 1 per year. These advanced submarines, a variant of HDW Class 214 vessels, will come with air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems.

AIP significantly increases a submarine’s underwater endurance and reduces the risk of detection. As part of the contract, tkMS will transfer the submarine’s design and technology to India, enabling the goal of self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector.

MDL and tkMS edged out their only competitor, the Larsen & Toubro-Navantia combine for this project.

The first P-75I submarine must have a minimum of 45% indigenisation, with the local content going up to 60% in the sixth. The navy is working toward becoming fully self-reliant by 2047, the year India celebrates 100 years of independence. Around 60 warships are under construction at various Indian yards.

P-75I is taking shape as India and Germany take steps to boost defence cooperation. In April, the two countries signed a defence industrial cooperation roadmap to promote joint development and co-production of weapons and systems, and to bolster the bilateral military relationship, during talks between defence minister Rajnath Singh and his counterpart, Boris Pistorius, in Berlin.

Mumbai-based MDL has already built six Kalvari-class (Scorpene) diesel-electric attack submarines with technology transfer from the French firm, Naval Group, under a ₹23,562-crore programme called P-75. The navy commissioned the last of these six submarines, INS Vaghsheer, in January 2025.

In April, the navy commissioned its third nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, INS Aridaman, during a ceremony kept under wraps in Visakhapatnam as it was built under a highly classified programme to bolster the sea leg of the country’s nuclear triad—the ability to launch strategic weapons from land, air and sea. The United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China are the only other countries that can deliver nuclear warheads from a submarine.

India’s fourth SSBN, codenamed S-4*, is likely to enter service in 2027, as HT previously reported. SSBN stands for ship submersible ballistic nuclear or nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. The country’s first indigenous SSBN, INS Arihant, was commissioned 10 years ago, and it successfully completed its first deterrence patrol in 2018, with PM Narendra Modi then announcing that the submarine’s success “gives a fitting response to those who indulge in nuclear blackmail.”

The navy commissioned its second indigenous SSBN, INS Arighaat, in Visakhapatnam in August 2024. Aridaman is bigger than the two SSBNs inducted earlier and can launch longer-range missiles. These SSBNs will remain on continuous deterrence patrols and can launch nuclear missiles when New Delhi sends the signal.