'Indian shipyards secured orders worth Rs 10,500 cr for building ships in last 8 years'

NEW DELHI: The Centre’s Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy has helped Indian shipyards to secure both domestic and export orders for building ships to the tune of approximately Rs 10,500 crore since 2016, according to information tabled in Parliament on Friday.

As many as 39 shipyards have secured a total of 313 orders since the inception of the scheme. These shipyards have received financial assistance totalling Rs 337 crore for delivering 135 vessels to domestic and international ship owners, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

Both public and private shipyards like Cochin Shipyard Ltd, Chowgule Shipyard, Mazgaon Shipyard and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers have secured several domestic and foreign shipbuilding orders, thereby leveraging the availability of financial assistance through the scheme.

The scheme provides Indian Shipyards a level playing field vis-a-vis foreign shipyards for domestic and international shipbuilding orders. This scheme is aimed at the revival and promotion of the shipbuilding industry in India for contracts signed from 2016 to 2026, the minister said.

Lower domestic demand for commercial shipbuilding, high cost of finance, relatively small ancillary industry, less automation etc, are seen as reasons affecting the competitiveness of Indian shipyards.

The Government has taken various initiatives to encourage domestic shipbuilding in the country. These include extending the financial assistance scheme to wind farm installation vessels and construction of sophisticated dredgers as specialised vessels which are eligible to get higher financial assistance, over and above Rs 40 crore which is the upper limit for non-specialised vessels.

Financial assistance of 30 per cent is being given for vessels where main propulsion is achieved by means of green fuels such as Methanol/Ammonia/Hydrogen fuel cells and financial assistance of 20 per cent for vessels with electric means of propulsion or vessels fitted with a hybrid propulsion system.

To promote indigenous shipbuilding, the Government entities dealing with shipbuilding and ship-owning are also advised to ensure local content in accordance with government rules. Procurement of ships of less than Rs 200 crore is required to be from Indian shipyards.

The Government has also provided infrastructure status to shipyards since 2016 making them eligible for cheaper long-term finance. This will enable the shipyards to reduce their cost disadvantage and invest in capacity expansion thereby giving a boost to the Indian shipbuilding industry, the minister added.