Government to soon come out with a new shipbuilding policy

19 June 2017

The government will soon unveil a new shipbuilding, breaking and repair policy with an aim to double the size of the industry to Rs 20,000 crore by 2022. The proposed policy will also include setting up a maritime development fund to financially assist the domestic shipbuilding industry.

The new policy will have a special focus on building a niche capacity and positioning India as a manufacturing hub of LPG, LNG, cruise and chemical tanker ships, besides inland vessels.

Indian shipyards have less than 1% share in global shipbuilding and repair market, which is dominated by Singapore, China and some Middle Eastern countries that have almost 45% share.

The new policy proposes a ship breaking cluster at Alang in Gujarat and also lower tax burden to make the industry globally competitive. The industry has already been awarded the infrastructure status, which is expected to make loans cheaper.

The Indian commercial shipbuilding market has the potential to grow five times over the next decade, creating one lakh jobs.

The government also wants to enter into partnerships with South Korean and Japanese shipyards to set up modern shipbuilding yards and at least 20 ship repair docks in India.

Source: ET