NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a comprehensive package of Rs 69,725 crore to revitalise India's shipbuilding and maritime ecosystem.
The package introduces a four-pillar approach designed to strengthen domestic capacity, improve long-term financing, promote greenfield and brownfield shipyard development, enhance technical capabilities and skilling, and implement legal, taxation, and policy reforms to create a robust maritime infrastructure.
I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said this while briefing about the decisions taken by the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Under this package, the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme (SBFAS) will be extended until 31 March 2036 with a total corpus of Rs 24,736 crore.
The scheme aims to incentivise shipbuilding in India and includes a shipbreaking credit note with an allocation of Rs 4,001 crore. A National Shipbuilding Mission will also be established to oversee the implementation of all initiatives.
In addition, the Maritime Development Fund (MDF) has been approved with a corpus of Rs 25,000 crore to provide long-term financing for the sector.
Furthermore, the Shipbuilding Development Scheme has a budgetary outlay of Rs 19,989 crore.