Vikrant's changing design drives major cost growth

When approved in 1999, the air-defence ship proposal was expected to cost 17.3 billion rupees, approximately US$200 million at the mid-2025 exchange rates used for comparison. Its evolution into a 37,000-ton MiG-29K carrier nearly doubled the projection to 32.6 billion rupees when the revised design was approved in early 2003. Shipyard upgrades required further spending alongside the carrier itself. In July 2014, the Cabinet Committee on Security approved a much higher estimate of 193.4 billion rupees, roughly US$2.25 billion. The account treats that as an approved estimate, with no subsequent official revision identified, and judges that costs will have risen over the following decade. It therefore does not establish a final completed-program cost.