Massive push to shipbuilding & repair industry to improve India’s maritime global ranking
In order to promote indigenous shipbuilding, the Government issued guidelines in May 2016 for evaluating and awarding tenders for new shipbuilding orders floated by Government departments or agencies including public sector undertakings for acquisition of any type of vessel(s) used by them for Governmental purposes or for their own use.
Maritime India Vision, 2030 has set a target to elevate India’s global ranking in shipbuilding to top 10 and the vision as per the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision, 2047 is to reach within top 5 positions.
Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha last week informed that the Ministry has taken several steps in the last few years for development of shipbuilding infrastructure and creating all allied facilities in the country.
These include amendments in the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy (SBFAP) guidelines in January to encourage more participation in shipbuilding activities.
In November, 2021, the Government had released standard tug designs of five variants for use by major ports for procurement of tugs to be built in Indian shipyards.
In September 2023, the hierarchy of Right of First Refusal (RoFR) was revised and is to be followed in any kind of charter of a vessel which is undertaken through a tender process. According to the revised guidelines, whenever acquisition of a vessel(s) is undertaken through tendering route, qualified Indian shipyards will have a “Right of First Refusal” to enable them to match the evaluated lowest price offered by the foreign shipyard which is aimed at increasing shipbuilding activities in Indian shipyards.
The Ministry has also launched the Green Tug Transition Programme (GTTP) which aims to reduce carbon emissions and minimise environmental impact by encouraging adoption of environmentally sustainable tugboat operations.
Harit Nauka guidelines have been launched for inland vessels to promote the adoption of greener technologies in inland waterway vessels.
In April 2016, the Government had included ‘Shipyards’ in the updated Harmonised Master List of Infrastructure Sub-sectors.
In order to promote indigenous shipbuilding, the Government issued guidelines in May 2016 for evaluating and awarding tenders for new shipbuilding orders floated by Government departments or agencies including public sector undertakings for acquisition of any type of vessel(s) used by them for Governmental purposes or for their own use.
Also, Government entities dealing with shipbuilding and ship-owning are advised to ensure local content as per the Government of India Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017. As per this Order, procurement of ships of less than ₹200 crore is required to be from Indian shipyards.