Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) will enter profit-sharing deals with startups it incubates during the product development stage. The Kolkata-based public sector company, part of the Ministry of Defence, has allocated funds from its research budget to support these initiatives aligning with India’s self-reliant policy.
GRSE Chairman and Managing Director, Commodore P R Hari, Indian Navy (Retd), revealed that a significant portion of the company’s R&D budget has been dedicated to fostering startups focused on shipbuilding innovations. This move is part of GRSE’s efforts to nurture early-stage companies and support them in developing products and services for in-house use, which can later be commercialized.
Hari emphasized that GRSE’s terms for these commercial relationships are flexible, aiming to benefit from the intellectual property created through these collaborations. In 2023, two startups were selected under the first edition of the GRSE Accelerated Innovation Nurturing Scheme (GAINS), focusing on AI-based material code generation and robotic ship exterior painting. GRSE has fully funded these startups to develop viable prototypes by December 2024 and mid-2025, respectively. Encouraged by the response of 51 applications, GRSE has launched GAINS-2024, focusing on AI, Renewable Energy, and Efficiency Enhancement themes. This initiative aligns with India’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ policy, highlighting the role of startups in national development. GRSE noted a 33% revenue growth to Rs 3,400 crore in the 2023-24 fiscal.
