Walchand also believed that there was a strong need for a shipyard in the country and started work on it in 1940 at Visakhapatnam. In the days when it was unthinkable of foundation ceremony to be done by anyone other than British officials, the truly patriotic Walchand decided to break the tradition and the foundation stone for the shipyard was laid by Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 21 June 1941, who was acting Congress President at that time.Piramal, p. 165 It was named Scindia Shipyard Limited and its first product, the ship Jalusha was launched soon after independence by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1948. However, the shipyard came under government control a few months later (due to the presumed importance of the project to country's security and economic growth) and was fully nationalised in 1961 and was renamed Hindustan Shipyard Limited.
