India’s order for new next-generation corvettes (NGC) is primarily intended to preserve fleet numbers as older vessels approach retirement, according to GlobalData.
The comment from the data and analytics firm comes as the Ministry of Defence signed contracts worth more than Rs538.8bn ($5.6bn) with Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) and Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) on 2 November to build eight NGC ships for the Indian Navy.
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In its Aerospace and Defense Fleet Size Dataset report, GlobalData indicates that 41.2% of India’s corvettes are more than 30 years old on average, while 23.5% are between 20 and 30 years old.
The remaining 35.3% have an average age of below 10 years.
The new programme is expected to replace ageing surface combatants, including Khukri-class and Kora-class vessels, while introducing newer platforms into service.
GlobalData aerospace and defence analyst Harpreet Sidhu said: “Close to two-thirds of India’s corvette fleet is 20 years old or older, and the oldest tier has begun to leave service. INS Khukri was retired in December 2021 and INS Kirpan was transferred to Vietnam in July 2023.
The two remaining Khukri-class ships entered service in 1990 and 1991 and were built around the Soviet-designed P-15 Termit missile.
Replacing hulls of that age is primarily a question of keeping enough ships at sea, because a corvette in the last years of its service life tends to spend more time on maintenance than on patrol.
“The new corvettes therefore protect fleet numbers first and enhance capability second,” Sidhu added.
GlobalData said the requirement to sustain corvette availability coincides with China’s naval activity in the Indian Ocean region.
In February 2025, India’s chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi, said the People’s Liberation Army Navy maintained between six and eight combatants in the region at any time, alongside research vessels.
Sidhu said the new ships could support tasks including merchant-vessel escort, the monitoring of foreign warships and maritime surveillance.
“The stealth design and multi-role configuration of the new corvettes would give the Navy platforms suited to those tasks, and allow the older Kora-class ships, commissioned between 1998 and 2004, to be retired on a managed schedule rather than a forced one,” Sidhu said.
India also faces a growing Pakistani submarine force in the Arabian Sea, according to GlobalData analysis.
Pakistan is acquiring eight Hangor-class submarines, with four to be built in China and four domestically. In September 2026, Pakistan said its first Hangor-class submarine, commissioned in April 2026, had completed a maiden live firing of an anti-ship cruise missile in the North Arabian Sea.
Sidhu said: “India now faces pressure from two directions, a sustained Chinese naval and survey presence in the Indian Ocean and a growing Pakistani submarine force in the Arabian Sea that has begun firing anti-ship missiles.
“Neither threat can be met by a fleet whose oldest ships are approaching four decades of service.”
