But this summer, something rather silent and significant took place in India's shipyards, and it was not from a defence announcement or a headline-grabbing Government initiative. Instead, it was in the trade figures which most readers will ignore that tankers exported out of India surged by over 600 per cent in the first quarter of this fiscal year to $1.36 billion, from $221.1 million during the same period of the previous year. That is a reflection of a change in the customer base for Indian shipbuilders and their motivation to do business, which is worthy of greater discussion than a single line in a commerce ministry release.

It's not just about the numbers, it's about the contract. India exported 23 tankers in the quarter, an increase of over 10 times compared to a year ago when it exported 10 vessels. They aren't little boats. Precision engineering, heavy fabrication capacity and a supply chain ready to ensure international classification standards are met are necessary to build tankers that are designed to carry crude oil, refined fuels, LNG, chemicals, even clean water across oceans. Orders for 23 of them in three months aren't something that's just going to happen, it's a bet that Indian yards could be counted on for performance and a competitive price.

The UAE is the clear frontrunner as a customer, with $900.8m of the $1.36bn, or about two-thirds. That's a concentration to sit with for a minute. The UAE is not only a convenient market, but one of the world's most busy and efficient maritime and energy logistics hubs, with ports such as Jebel Ali and a shipping industry that provides a service to trade corridors from the Gulf to East Africa, South Asia and beyond. Emirati customers are not just diversifying suppliers but also telling the Indian shipyards that they are cost competitive and they are confident of delivery, when they place big orders on them for new tankers.

This falls into a larger picture that New Delhi has been working on for several years now, which is Zoom out. The government has explicitly set a target to make India the top 10 shipbuilding nation and top five by mid-century with its Maritime India Vision 2030 and in the longer-term Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047. It's an ambitious goal for a country like India. The established giants of Asia, especially China (by some estimates, well over half of the world's merchant tonnage) and South Korea (close to a third), and Japan (most of the rest), are still the main producers of global shipping. The three countries serve up about 95 percent of all that comes out of a shipyard, anywhere in the world. India's ascent from that starting point will not be a straight line or when one sees the numbers of the current quarter, should it be considered an India that suddenly has the makings of a competitor to these stalwarts. But the policy machinery is beginning to deliver tangible trade results and not just press conferences.

That machine is backed by real cash. The Government of India has approved a financial assistance package to support shipbuilding industry in the range of ₹70,000 crore, which includes both subsidies for the domestic shipyards, dedicated maritime financing instruments and development of infrastructure in various shipbuilding clusters being developed in various states including Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. A new Maritime Development Fund, with a budget of around ₹25,000 crore for the next five years or so, should address an ongoing issue that has been inhibiting Indian shipbuilding long project gestation periods that dissuade traditional lenders. A separate stream of over 400 ships has also been built up by the ministry to provide visibility for yards on orders ahead, a critical part of an industry where capital commitments are made many years before a ship is delivered.

The business rationale behind this policy movement is now also becoming apparent in neighbouring corners of the shipping industry. Product tanker charter rates have risen by close to 200% YoY over the past few months, as have dry bulk earnings, even as the world's energy and commodity trade has remained robust, despite the geopolitical tensions in shipping lanes, from the Red Sea to the Strait of Hormuz, keeping freight markets volatile, according to domestic shipping companies. Oddly enough, that volatility has helped India. Those who prefer to spread their risk across other orderbooks, notably those of India, where wait times are also increasing and prices have become firmer, have a reason to experiment with Indian yards, particularly the medium-sized tankers, where Indian yards are showing signs of becoming competitive rather than just competitive in price.

This is far from being India becoming a shipbuilding power. The surge in exports even the biggest of sixfold – is on a small base, and if they are to continue to grow, yards will need to demonstrate the ability to deliver projects on time, quality that is up to international standards, and technically more complex orders that make larger demands without cost overruns. Whether this UAE-busted surge is the first of a series of deliveries, or is just a group of deliveries that fell into the same quarter, will be the real question going forward. But what's certain is that it's quite an achievement for an industry that India has effectively abandoned to yards in the east in the last 50 years to secure big and repeat orders from global buyers. If the order book continues to expand in the coming quarters with more than one major buyer, India's shipbuilding dreams will have turned reality for the rest of the world's shipping industry.