208 crore! India will set up a maritime development fund to support the shipbuilding industry
According to Reuters reports, India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (Nirmala Sitharaman) said recently that India will set up a 250 billion rupees (about 20.807 billion yuan) of maritime development fund for India's shipbuilding and ship-repair industry to provide long-term financing.
The fund will be financed 49% by the government, with the rest to be raised from ports and the private sector, Sitharaman said while presenting the budget proposal for the current fiscal year starting April 1st.
At the same time, Sitharaman noted that the Indian government will also promote shipbuilding clusters that will increase the range, category and capacity of ships to be built, which will include additional infrastructure, skills and technology to develop the entire ecosystem.
In order to incentivize the dismantling of old ships and the construction of new ones, India will issue credit notes for shipbreaking activities in shipbreaking yards. The government also plans to extend duty-free import of materials for shipbuilding and shipbreaking activities for 10 years.
It is understood that in recent years, in India Prime Minister Modi “Atmanirbhar Abhiyan (self-sufficient India)” initiative to promote, India is vigorously support the development of the shipbuilding industry. Last year, India's federal ports, shipping and waterways minister Sarbananda Sonowal (Sarbananda Sonowal), India's goal to 2030 among the world's top ten shipbuilding countries, while striving to 2047 to become the world's top five shipbuilding countries.”
As per Sonowal's previously disclosed plans, India's immediate goal is to set up four mega shipbuilding parks, two on each of the east and west coasts, with one operational mega shipbuilding park expected on each of the east and west coasts by 2030. For this, the government will develop basic infrastructure such as roads, land development, water and electricity, while the private sector will provide key equipment such as cranes, lifting and cutting machines, as well as dry dock fabrication and manpower.
It is understood that the development of India's shipbuilding industry, although a long history, but the pace is very slow. 2002-2011 India's shipbuilding industry experienced a period of rapid development, in 2011 India's ship exports accounted for 3.7% of the total global market, once among the world's fourth. However, in the following years, India's shipbuilding industry began to go downhill, in 2013, India's shipbuilding enterprises to undertake new ship orders in the global market share from 1.3% to 0.1%.
Currently, there are 28 shipyards in India, of which 6 are under the central public sector, 2 under the state government, and 20 under the private sector, and these Indian shipyards mainly build some small and offshore vessels.
According to Clarkson's latest data, as of the end of 2024, India's shipbuilding industry hand-held orders for only 72 ships of about 400,000 dwt, is the world's total of 5,672 364.5 million dwt of hand-held orders of about 0.11%, in Asian countries is also far lower than Vietnam (123 ships of 4.8 million dwt) and the Philippines (63 ships of 4.7 million dwt).
In contrast, China's shipbuilding industry, a total of 3,493 hand-held orders 242.5 million deadweight tons, accounting for a global share of up to 67%; South Korea's shipbuilding industry, hand-held orders 699 years old 67.2 million deadweight tons, accounting for about 18%; Japan's hand-held orders 39.3 million deadweight tons, accounting for about 11%. Compared with China's shipbuilding industry, India's hand-held orders according to the number of ships calculated only 2% of China, according to the calculation of deadweight tons is less than 0.2% of China.
Although the current distance from the “shipbuilding power” is still a huge gap, but the Indian shipbuilding industry also has some positive factors. India has a vast coastline, suitable for the development of the shipbuilding industry; In addition, due to the current Japanese and South Korean shipbuilding industry are facing serious labor shortages, shipowners rely on China, the world's largest shipbuilding country at the same time, but also began to turn their attention to other regions; the government's strong support and huge investment in the development of India's shipbuilding industry also provides certain opportunities.