The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved a landmark ₹69,725 crore package aimed at revitalizing India’s shipbuilding and maritime sector.
This ambitious plan is built on a four-pillar framework that includes strengthening domestic shipbuilding capacity, enabling long-term financing, encouraging expansion of shipyards (both brownfield and greenfield), and introducing legal, tax, and policy reforms to enhance the maritime ecosystem.
Under the package, key initiatives include:
- Extension of the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme (SBFAS) until March 2036, backed by a corpus of ₹24,736 crore.
- A Shipbreaking Credit Note scheme with an allocation of ₹4,001 crore to incentivize ship recycling.
- Creation of the Maritime Development Fund (MDF) with ₹25,000 crore, including a ₹20,000 crore Maritime Investment Fund (49% government participation) and ₹5,000 crore in interest incentive support to reduce borrowing costs.
- Launch of the Shipbuilding Development Scheme (SbDS) with a budget of ₹19,989 crore to boost domestic shipyard capacity to 4.5 million gross tonnage annually, support mega clusters, build infrastructure, and underwrite risk via insurance and support mechanisms.
Officials expect these measures to unlock up to 4.5 million gross tonnage (GT) in shipbuilding capacity, create nearly 30 lakh jobs, and attract investments of around ₹4.5 lakh crore in the maritime sector.