Mazagon Dock shares gain over 3% after this positive development for P-75(I) submarines

Shares of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. gained over 3% on Monday, August 25, on the back of an important development with regards to a key submarine project.Sources told CNBC-TV18 on Sunday that the Ministry of Defence has given an approval to Mazagon Dock to begin cost negotiations with Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Marine Ltd. for building six submarines, under the P-75(I) project.

Negotiations for the project, valued at nearly ₹70,000 crore, are likely to begin soon, the sources said, adding that the project will be awarded to Mazagon Dock and Thyssenkrupp, six months after successful completion of the cost negotiations.

Mazagon Dock and Thyssenkrupp had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) back in June 2023 for the construction and delivery of six submarines for the Indian Navy. As per this MoU, Thyssenkrupp was in-charge of handling the engineering and design, while Mazagon Dock will be responsible for the construction and delivery of those six submarines.
The P-75(I) submarine order is something that brokerage firm JPMorgan had written about in its note on Mazagon Dock last Friday, where it highlighted that there appears to be little incremental positive newsflow on the six P-75(I) submarine award either.JPMorgan had reiterated its “underweight” stance on Mazagon Dock with a price target of ₹2,468, stating that the risk-reward for the state-run defence company remains adverse, despite the stock having corrected nearly 30% from its recent peak of ₹3,775.

Mazagon Dock’s previous two quarters have been impacted due to provisions related to cost overruns. The management, in an interaction with CNBC-TV18, after their June quarter results, spoke about no further provisions being needed, and that margins too, will recover in the quarters ahead.

Another trigger for Mazagon Dock is the fact that it will be included in the Nifty Junior or the Next 50 index as part of the bi-annual rejig. The stock will be included in the index from the end of Septemer.

Shares of Mazagon Dock have opened with gains of 3.2% at ₹2,787. Before today’s session, the stock is down 6.5% in the last one month, trimming its 2025 gains down to just 20%.