Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has laid the foundation stone for five major industrial expansion projects in West Bengal, with a combined value of approximately ₹3,500 crore. The centrepiece of the initiative is a ₹473.84 crore radial forging plant that will produce, among other things, components for nuclear reactors. The ceremony, held on 23 August 2026 at GRSE Bhavan in Kolkata, was also attended by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
The five projects involve two major state-owned enterprises: Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), a Navratna Defence PSU, and Yantra India Limited (YIL). Foundation stones were laid simultaneously across four sites — Kidderpore, Shalimar, Raichak and Ishapore — underscoring the geographical breadth of the initiative. GRSE’s scope includes the expansion of the Raichak shipyard, the refurbishment of the Shalimar basin with a 130-metre dry dock and a new 120-metre slipway, and an investment of approximately ₹70 crore at the Kidderpore facility, dedicated to medium vessel repairs and electric ferry production.
However, it is YIL’s metallurgical component that holds the greatest significance for the nuclear sector. At the Metal and Steel Factory in Ishapore, two plants with a combined investment of over ₹750 crore aim to strengthen domestic metallurgical production. The first is a 3,000-tonne open-die hydraulic press — replacing the current 2,650-tonne unit — intended for gun barrels, ammunition components and heavy forgings. The second is the aforementioned radial forging plant: it will produce special alloys, nuclear reactor components, high-strength railway axles, and hardware for next-generation weapons systems. Both facilities will integrate Industry 4.0 technologies and energy-efficient systems to reduce dependence on imports.
The strategic backdrop is India’s Make in India programme applied to the defence and critical technologies sectors. India has set an ambitious target: reaching 100 GW of installed nuclear capacity by 2047. To achieve this, the country needs a domestic industrial supply chain capable of independently manufacturing the most complex components — from special reactor forgings to containment systems. Entrusting this production to a state-owned company like YIL, with deep roots in heavy manufacturing, reflects the need to build capabilities that the private sector would struggle to replicate in the near term.
If construction timelines are met, the Ishapore facility will become one of the few industrial sites in South Asia capable of forging nuclear-grade components to strategic-sector standards. For India, this marks a concrete step towards a nuclear supply chain that currently still relies to a significant degree on foreign sourcing. A move whose importance goes well beyond the investment figures alone.
