New Delhi: The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, has approved a Rs.69,725 crore package to revitalize India’s shipbuilding and maritime ecosystem. The initiative introduces a four-pillar strategy aimed at strengthening domestic capacity, improving financing, enhancing technical skills, and implementing policy reforms to build a resilient maritime sector.
As part of the package, the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme (SBFAS) will be extended until 31 March 2036 with a total corpus of Rs.24,736 crore. This scheme will incentivize domestic shipbuilding and includes a Shipbreaking Credit Note allocation of Rs.4,001 crore. A National Shipbuilding Mission will oversee the implementation of all related initiatives.
The Cabinet also approved the Maritime Development Fund (MDF) with a corpus of Rs.25,000 crore to provide long-term financing for shipbuilding projects. This includes a Maritime Investment Fund of Rs.20,000 crore—with 49% participation from the Government of India—and an Interest Incentivization Fund of Rs.5,000 crore to lower the effective cost of debt and enhance project bankability.
Additionally, the Shipbuilding Development Scheme (SbDS) has been allocated Rs.19,989 crore to expand domestic shipbuilding capacity to 4.5 million Gross Tonnage annually. The scheme will support mega shipbuilding clusters, infrastructure expansion, establish the India Ship Technology Centre under the Indian Maritime University, and provide risk coverage, including insurance for shipbuilding projects.
Officials project that the overall package could unlock 4.5 million Gross Tonnage of shipbuilding capacity, generate nearly 30 lakh jobs, and attract investments of about Rs.4.5 lakh crore into India’s maritime sector.
