JOIN USAddressing a meeting of the parliamentary consultative panel of his ministry said the "government was making all out efforts to ensure security of the coastal regions of the country"
"There has been a sea change in the government's approach to coastal security after this tragic incident (Nov 26-29, 2008 Mumbai attack)," he said.
The minister said the government was giving top priority to modernization of shipyards "so that state-of-the-art warships can be built indigenously to global standards".
"In future, all vessels of the Indian Navy will be built indigenously and the private sector will play a crucial role in this endeavor," said Antony.
He listed out the policy initiatives on shipyards and ship- building for the armed forces and said to be comparable with the best global shipyards, "we must keep a high premium on the quality of the delivered products.
"Our market share in global shipbuilding must be improved substantially on a priority basis.
Our shipyards have no option but to build state-of-the-art infrastructure for constructing high technology warships and submarines."