INS Kadmatt, the second of the four Project 28 (P28) Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Corvettes, was commissioned into the Indian Navy by the Chief of Naval Staff at the Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam, on 7 January, 2016.
INS Kamorta, the first in the series, was commissioned on 23 August, 2014.
The other two ASW Corvettes are INS Kavaratti and INS Kiltan. INS Kavaratti was launched on 19 May, 2015.
All four ASWs have been indigenously designed by Indian Navy's in-house organisation, Directorate of Naval Design, and constructed by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited, Kolkata.
Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers is a defence ministry undertaking and its turnover in 2014-15 was Rs 1,613 crore.
All the ASWs have an indigenous component of about 90%, marking a paradigm shift to manufacture defence equipment within the country.
"Commissioning of INS Kadmatt marks yet another milestone in our journey towards self-reliance and Make-in-India," Admiral RK Dhowan, Chief of the Naval Staff said.
Kadmatt was acquired in 1968 from the then Soviet Union and deployed during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka, and Operation Tasha, said a Defence Ministry statement.
INS Kadmatt has a length of 109 metres and measures 13.7 metres at the beam. It is propelled by four diesel engines to achieve speeds in excess of 25 knots with an endurance of 3450 Nm and has some of the advanced stealth features, the statement added.
The NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been keen on manufacturing defence equipment locally to reduce imports, as was articulated by him while inaugurating the Aero Show early last year.
"We have the reputation as the largest importer of defence equipment in the world. That may be music to the ears of some of you here. But, this is one area where we would not like to be Number One!" he had said.
Besides modernising defence public sector undertakings, the Modi government has also involved the private sector in making defence items in India. Last month, the government issued 81 industrial licences to 61 companies to make artillery guns, armoured fighting vehicles, warships, military aircraft, UAVs and radars in India.
In the same month, it decided to open up defence facilities to private companies to conduct tests and trial runs for defence equipment, which were hitherto being sent abroad for certification, entailing huge costs.
The government has also consciously decided to step up defence exports, as is evident from the fact that while full-year exports stood at Rs 686.27 crore in 2013-14, the figure for the first half of the current fiscal was Rs 695.70 crore.
