Pariksha SaathiIndian Navy to Commission Indigenous Multi-Purpose Vessel Samarthak at Karwar on 16 October
The Indian Navy will commission its first Multi-Purpose Vessel (MPV), Samarthak, at the Naval Base in Karwar, Karnataka, on 16 October 2026, the Defence Ministry said on 13 October. Samarthak is the first of four MPVs being built by Larsen & Toubro under the Make in India programme, and the Navy framed the commissioning as a further step toward self-reliance in warship construction. The vessel is primarily meant for maritime surveillance and patrol, but it has been designed as a flexible 'utility' platform: besides Low Intensity Maritime Operations, it can serve as a target-deployment and trials platform, a mothership for unmanned and autonomous systems, support Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) work, and be converted into a limited hospital ship. Its combat suite combines indigenous sensors, weapons and electronic systems. The ship's crest shows an Indian elephant emerging from the waves, representing strength, intelligence and agility, and its motto, 'Vijayarth Eknishtata', translates to 'Victory is Our Sole Aim'.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
The Make in India initiative was launched by the Prime Minister in September 2014 and is administered by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). It aims to make India a global design-and-manufacturing hub and originally covered 25 identified industry sectors, of which defence manufacturing is only one.
Reference: Make in India’s official ‘About Us’ page (DPIIT)
Check yourself: is Make in India a defence-specific programme?
No — Make in India is a broader manufacturing initiative launched in September 2014 covering 25 industry sectors; defence shipbuilding projects like Samarthak are cited as examples of it, not the programme’s sole focus.
Revision task: from this release, note which shipyard built Samarthak and how many Multi-Purpose Vessels of this class the Navy is inducting in total, and keep that separate from the standing facts about Make in India above.
Test yourself
Who is building the four Multi-Purpose Vessels (MPVs) for the Indian Navy, the first of which, Samarthak, is to be commissioned at Karwar on 16 October 2026?
Show the answer
Answer: Larsen & Toubro
Samarthak is the first of four MPVs being built by Larsen & Toubro under Make in India; it is a flexible utility platform for surveillance, trials, support to unmanned systems, HADR and conversion into a limited hospital ship, with the motto 'Vijayarth Eknishtata'.
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