A Rs 66 crore Indian Navy order has moved Coratia Technologies from underwater-robotics prototype work toward defence delivery, YourStory reported, giving the Odisha startup a public-sector customer for its indigenous remotely operated vehicles.

The contract assigns the machines to inspection work below ports, bridges, dams, ship hulls, pipelines and undersea data cables.

Instead of sending divers into slow or dangerous work, the company builds vehicles that carry cameras, sonar and positioning systems through low-visibility water.

Navy Contract Gives Coratia A Defence Delivery Test

The Navy order falls under the Ministry of Defence's iDEX scheme and covers indigenous underwater ROVs.

The vehicles are controlled from the surface through a tether, which lets operators send cameras and sensors into submerged structures.

Biswajit Swain, Coratia's co-founder and CTO, told YourStory that indigenous underwater ROV induction reduces costs and reliance on foreign suppliers while addressing trade restrictions and tariff uncertainty.

The award gives the company a delivery test beyond customised inspections.

The contract marks a move from proof of concept toward delivery, while the business remains early in its revenue journey.

Robots Inspect Cables, Dams And Ship Hulls

The product line covers two underwater systems.

Remotely operated vehicles handle piloted jobs, while autonomous underwater vehicles navigate independently for longer underwater survey work.

Both types are built for places where satellite navigation does not reach and water visibility is poor.

The vehicles carry inspection hardware and the company adds AI-based analysis, including non-destructive testing that assesses structural condition without damaging the asset.

The workflow is aimed at infrastructure owners as well as defence users.

Bridges, dams, docks, ship hulls, pipelines and undersea cables are among the assets the robots can inspect, map or monitor.

Seabed cable inspection and repair capacity is part of digital infrastructure operations because those cables carry internet traffic.

The customer base already spans heavy industry and public-sector organisations.

Indian Railways, SAIL, IOCL, Tata Steel and the National Institute of Oceanography are listed as customers for customised underwater inspection work.

Funding And Staffing Remain Small

The company's origin traces back to NIT Rourkela, where Debendra Pradhan and Biswajit Swain joined a student research team building underwater robots.

The profile said a Ministry of Earth Sciences challenge pulled the founders into autonomous underwater navigation and that full-time company operations began in 2021.

YourStory put disclosed funding at about Rs 22 crore from Piper Serica Angel Fund, MGF Kavachh, Pontaq Ventures and government grants, and put the workforce at around 32 people.

The company still works from the NIT Rourkela incubation centre.

The Navy order is therefore larger than the disclosed funding base.

A production timetable for the Navy vehicles remains outside the public record.