Scheme to build a larger and healthy Indian fleet
The Cabinet has approved a scheme to provide Rs.1,624 crore over five years as subsidy to Indian Shipping companies in global tenders floated by Ministries and CPSEs for import of government cargo.
This will result in a larger and healthy Indian fleet which will enable greater training and employment opportunities for Indian seafarers besides enhancing Indian companies’ share in global shipping, said the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways in a release on 14 July 2021.
Impact, including employment generation potential:
a) The scheme has immense potential to generate employment. Increase in Indian fleet will provide direct employment to Indian seafarers since Indian ships are required to employ only Indian seafarers.
b) Cadets wish to become seafarers are required to obtain on-board training on ships. Indian ships will therefore provide training slots for young Indian cadet boys and girls.
c) Both of these will enhance the share of Indian seafarers in global shipping, and thus Indian supply of Seafarers to the world will increase manifold.
d) Further, increase in Indian fleet will also generate indirect employment in development of ancillary industries such as shipbuilding, ship repair, recruitment, banking, etc. and contribute to the Indian GDP.
In order to address the cost disadvantage suffered by Indian flag ships, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has, in her Union Budget Financial Year 2021-22 speech on 1 February 2021, announced a scheme providing an amount of Rs.1,624 crore over five years to promote flagging of merchant ships in India by providing subsidy support to Indian shipping companies in global tenders floated by Ministries and CPSEs.
The maximum amount of subsidy outgo for five years would be in the range of an estimated Rs.1,624 crore.
Registration shall be done online within 72 hours like the world’s best ships registries. This will make it easy and attractive to register ships in India and thereby aid in boosting the Indian tonnage.
In addition to this, it is intended to provide 30 days to any in-flagging vessel to replace the crew on board with Indian crew.
Similarly, steps are also being taken to rationalize the manning requirements on the ships by aligning them with international standards. #investment #shipping #banking #exports /fiinews.com
