Cabinet approves Rs 69,725 crore package to boost Shipbuilding and Maritime Sector

Posted 25 Sep 2025

1 min read

Article Summary

The Rs 69,725 crore package aims to boost India's shipbuilding sector through a four-pillar approach, fostering capacity, financing, greenfield development, and policy reforms, creating jobs and enhancing security.

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
The package includes
- Extension of the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme (SBFAS) until March 31, 2036, to incentivize shipbuilding
- A Maritime Development Fund (MDF) will provide long-term financing for the sector.
  - MDF use cases would be for shipbuilding, shipbuilding clusters, ship repairs, ship ownership, port expansion, inland waterway transport, and coastal shipping.
- Shipbuilding Development Scheme (SbDS) to expand domestic shipbuilding capacity to 4.5 million Gross Tonnage annually.
A National Shipbuilding Mission will oversee all initiatives.
Significance of the Shipbuilding
- Job Creation and Investment: It would generate nearly 30 lakh jobs, and attract investments of approximately Rs.4.5 lakh crore into India’s maritime sector.
  - At present, Investment in commercial shipbuilding is dominated by China, South Korea and Japan.
- National security: Initiative will strengthen national, energy, and food security by bringing resilience to critical supply chains and maritime routes.