The story
Founded as the Scindia Shipyard, it was built by industrialist Walchand Hirachand as a part of The Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd. Walchand selected Visakhapatnam as a suitable location for the construction of the yard and took possession of the land in November 1940. The foundation stone for the shipyard was laid by Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 21 June 1941, who was at that time the acting Congress President.
The first ship to be constructed fully in India after independence was built at the Scindia Shipyard and named Jal Usha. It was launched in 1948 by Jawaharlal Nehru at a ceremony where the families of Seth Walchand Hirachand, late Narottam Morarjee, and Kilachand Devchand, the partners of Scindia Shipyard, were present along with other dignitaries and industrialists.
Walchand died in 1953, and the Scindia Shipyard continued to operate successfully under the next of kin of the founders. However, in 1961 the shipyard was nationalised and renamed Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL).
In 2010, HSL was transferred from the Ministry of Shipping to the Ministry of Defence.
In 2022, Hindustan Shipyard Limited registers highest value of production in its history. the value of production from shipbuilding remained at ₹613 crore marking it as the highest value of production recorded from shipbuilding division in the history of the shipyard.
In April 2025, the shipyard got a profitable turnover in close to four decades after years of narrow losses. The shipyard aims to achieve the miniratna status.
On 9 February 2026, HSL signed an agreement with to form a consortium with Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) in order to undertake "large-scale, strategically significant national shipbuilding programme".
From Wikipedia’s article on Hindustan Shipyard, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5
