Sonowal says Rs.1,624 crore scheme for Indian shipping companies to be internationally competitive
Twenty-one Shipyards, with about 170 vessels under construction, have registered under the Financial Assistance Policy for Indian Shipyards which covers domestic and export orders signed between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2026, Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on 15 Feb 2022.
The financial assistance has already been sanctioned for nine shipyards which have built and delivered 47 vessels, said the Minister, adding that the policy was approved on 9 Dec 2015.
Elaborating, he said the global downturn in the shipbuilding industry has significantly impacted the Indian shipyards. Their shares of global markets has declined to less than 1%.
He also updated the house on initiatives taken and or being taken by the Government for upgradation of infrastructure in Indian ports.
These are:
The Port Community System (PCS) 1x has digitized processes such as Electronic Invoice (e-Invoice), Electronic Payment (e-Payment) and Electronic Delivery Order (e-DO) for physical release of cargo by custodians.
The process of generation of electronic Bill of Lading (e-BL) and enabling the Letter of Credit (LC) process to be conducted digitally have already been implemented in the PCS 1x. There is also going to be complete integration between PCS 1x and Indian Customs EDI Gateway (ICEGATE). Partial integration has been completed.
The Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) solution has been implemented at all major ports to enable seamless movement of traffic across port gates, including substantial reductions in documentation checks. All Major ports have already implemented Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID).
Up gradation and integration with recent technologies – IoT, Blockchain to ease transaction and real time basis tracking has been envisaged in Maritime India Vision 2030.
The process to bootstrap PCS 1x into National Logistics Portal-Marine (NLP-Marine) is already underway which will act as a Unified Digital Platform all maritime stakeholders. NLP Marine + PCS 1x platform is envisaged as the central hub for all interactions with various stakeholders viz. Port, Terminals Shipping Lines/ Agents, CFS and Customs Brokers, Importer and Exporter etc.
Logistics Data Bank Service under Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Ltd (DMICDC), for enabling track & trace movement of EXIM container, has been implemented in all the Container handling Major Ports.
An Enterprise Business System (EBS) is being implemented at 5 Major Ports (Mumbai, Chennai, Deendayal, Paradip, Kolkata (including Haldia), with project cost of approx. Rs.320 crores to provide a digital port ecosystem that will adopt leading International Practices without losing its alignment to existing local needs.
A total of 2,474 processes across five ports were rationalized, harmonized, optimized and standardized to arrive at a final reengineered process count of 162 processes.
In order to bring all regulators near port area, each Port has allotted office space to Participating Government Agencies (PGAs) like Animal Quarantine, Textile Commission and Asst Drug Controller.
Port has also allotted the land to Food and Safety Standards Authority of India and Drug Controller for setting up of laboratories. This is a step towards better coordination between PGAs and other stakeholders like customs, CHAs, Custodians, etc.
It is envisaged that the present high dwell time for the consignments assigned for PGA clearance will be reduced drastically once the PGAs are present at the port area only.
Further, in order to augment the Indian tonnage in the shipping industry, this Ministry has implemented a new scheme for promotion of flagging of merchant ships in India by providing subsidy support to Indian Shipping companies in global tenders floated by Ministries, Department, CPSEs.
The Government has approved a Rs.1,624 crore scheme over a period of five years on 14 July 2021 for Indian shipping companies to become internationally competitive while importing government cargo, stressed Sonowal. fiinews.com
