Historic Warship INS Virat Ready To BE Sold For Rs 100 Cr : Mumbai Firm

On Oct 2, 2020

Ahmedabad : The new owner of the historic warship INS Virat is willing to sell it for Rs 100 crore to a Mumbai-based company that wants to avoid demolition and convert it into a museum. The aircraft carrier Virat was inducted into the Indian Navy in 1987.

It was removed from the Navy in the year 2017, which was later bought by the Shriram Group in the same year in auction for Rs 38.54 crore. The warship, a symbol of Indian maritime heritage, was transported to the ship-breaking yard of Gujarat last week.

Shriram Group Chairman Mukesh Patel said that since the ship was purchased as junk in an auction, now interested buyers will have to obtain a No Objection Certificate from the Ministry of Defense to buy it.Patel said, I bought this warship because of my patriotism. Now a Mumbai-based company wants to convert it into a museum. Here too, due to patriotism, I agreed to sell it, but for this, the buyer must first obtain a No Objection Certificate. I can’t sell it again without it.

Patel said, at first I was asking for Rs 125 crore, but after considering the company’s good work, I agreed to sell it for 100 crores.

He said that this offer is only for a limited period and he can only wait till next week. It is noteworthy that VK Sharma, managing director of NVTech Marine Consultants Private Limited has shown interest in buying Virat.

It is the second aircraft carrier slated to be broken down in India. In 2014, INS Vikrant was dismantled in Mumbai. The 70-year-old aircraft carrier, in its earlier avatar, had won the Falklands War against Argentina in 1982 for the Royal British Navy. It weighs about 27,800 tonnes and served the British Navy as HMS Hermes from November 1959 to April 1984 and after refurbishment, was commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1987.