Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal believes that granting infrastructure status to large ships will promote ship ownership and shipbuilding in India, potentially placing the country among the top five nations by 2047. This infrastructure status will enable shipping entities to secure funds on easier financial terms, with longer repayment periods and lower rates from commercial banks, making it easier to purchase ships from Indian shipyards.
The Revamped Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy 2.0 will further support domestic shipbuilding by extending direct financial subsidies to shipyards and reducing dependency on imports, while also promoting the circular economy through credit notes for ship breaking in yards. The promotion of new shipbuilding clusters is expected to contribute to India’s vision of becoming a $30 trillion economy by 2047.
Additionally, the Minister announced a proposal to set up a Maritime Development Fund with a corpus of ₹25,000 crore for equity and debt financing, which is projected to stimulate investment in ship acquisition, port development, and maritime infrastructure. This initiative is expected to generate ₹1.5 lakh crore in investments by 2030, create numerous employment opportunities, boost private sector participation, reduce foreign dependency, and enhance national maritime security.