India to become one of the top 5 nations in ship building by 2047: Minister Sonowal
Sarbananda Sonowal, the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping& Waterways (MoPSW)
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The granting of infrastructure status to large ships will promote ship ownership and shipbuilding in India and place the country among the top five nations by 2047, Sarbananda Sonowal, the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping& Waterways (MoPSW) has said.
The infrastructure status will allow shipping entities to secure funds with easier financial terms, longer repayment periods and lower rates from commercial banks. This will make it easy to buy ships from Indian shipyards and raise Indian ship ownership, he said at a function in Cochin Shipyard.
Reduce import dependency
The Revamped Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy 2.0 would extend direct financial subsidies to Indian shipyards, strengthen domestic shipbuilding capabilities and reduce dependency on imports. Since this policy also includes a component of credit notes for ship breaking in Indian yards, it will promote the circular economy. The promotion of new shipbuilding clusters of 1 to 1.2 million gross tonnages will help in realising India’s vision of becoming a $30 trillion economy by 2047, he added.
Shipbuilding clusters will be facilitated to increase the ranks, categories and capacity of ships. This will include additional infrastructure facilities, scaling and technology to develop the entire ecosystem.
The Minister said that Maritime Development Fund has been proposed to be set up with a corpus of ₹25,000 crore for equity and debt financing. This will stimulate investment in ship acquisition, port development and maritime infrastructure. The initiative is likely to generate ₹1.5 lakh crore in investment by 2030, create thousands of employment opportunities and boost private sector participation, reduces foreign dependency and enhances national maritime security, he said.
Development projects
Later, the Minister virtually inaugurated infrastructure development projects across six campuses of the Indian Maritime University for the upgradation of maritime education and infrastructure. The projects, with a total estimated cost of ₹67.77 crore, were announced during the ceremony held at the IMU campus in Kochi. The other five IMU campuses are Chennai, Kolkata, Navi Mumbai, Mumbai Port and Visakhapatnam.
Reiterating the government’s resolve to transform maritime education by providing world-class infrastructure and training environments, he said, “with modern infrastructure and advanced facilities, we are enabling students to excel and meet global maritime standards”.
Published on April 8, 2025
