A significant package worth Rs 69,725 crore has been sanctioned by the government to enhance the domestic shipbuilding capacity, maritime financing, and skilling in India. This initiative aims to revamp the country’s shipbuilding industry. Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, announced the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme under this package, with an allocation of Rs 24,736 crore to address cost disparities faced by Indian shipyards compared to global counterparts.
The package also includes the establishment of a Maritime Development Fund with a corpus of Rs 25,000 crore to offer long-term financial support to the shipbuilding and maritime sector. This fund comprises a Maritime Investment Fund of Rs 20,000 crore and an Interest Incentivisation Fund of Rs 5,000 crore. Additionally, a Shipbuilding Development Scheme (SbDS) has been approved with Rs 19,989 crore to boost output capacity to 4.5 million gross tonnage annually through the development of greenfield clusters and brownfield expansion projects.
To position India as a competitive global shipbuilding entity, specific targets have been set in alignment with the Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047 documents. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways emphasized that these initiatives are crucial for achieving the envisioned status. Policy reforms have been introduced to overhaul the shipbuilding sector, including the classification of large vessels as infrastructure and the implementation of demand aggregation strategies.
