With about 55,000 men and women, including 5,000 naval aviation personnel and 2,000 Marine Commandos, the Indian Navy is considered the fifth-largest navy in the world.
"At present, we have 136 ships and are building 33 more in our shipyards. We are buying six ships and the same number of submarines from abroad," the Hindustan Times newspaper quoted Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta as saying.
Mehta said budgetary allocations had also been made for 40 additional ships and enhanced maritime surveillance equipment.
"We are scouting for suitable equipment within the country and abroad that meets our requirements and will be placing orders soon," he said during a working visit to Dehradun in northern India.
The admiral also said that the Indian Navy would commission the Russian aircraft carrier, Admiral Gorshkov, which is currently being modernized at Severodvinsk Shipyard in northern Russia, by the end of 2008.
The contract on the supply of the aircraft carrier to India, which Rosoboronexport signed with the Indian Navy in January 2004, covers the modernization of the ship and its equipping with modern weaponry, including the MiG-29K Fulcrum aircraft and Ka-27 Helix-A and Ka-31 Helix-B anti-submarine helicopters.
After joining the Indian Navy, the 45,000-ton aircraft carrier will be renamed INS Vikramaditya and could replace the outdated INS Viraat, a Centaur-class aircraft carrier, which India purchased from Britain in 1986.
The $1.5-billion Admiral Gorshkov sale is one Russia's largest individual military deals with India. The two countries are currently working on military contracts worth $10 billion.
