India is poised to become one of the top five shipbuilding nations in the coming decade, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi announced yesterday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India is working to become the fifth largest shipbuilding and ship repair hub of the world in the next decade.

Addressing the third edition of the Global Maritime India Summit 2023, via video conferencing, Modi emphasised on the importance of the maritime sector in India. “History bears testimony that India’s maritime capabilities have always benefited the world.”

The Prime Minister, highlighting the government’s focus on the shipbuilding sector stated, “that indigenous aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant is proof of India’s capacity. India is going to become one of the top five ship-building nations in the coming decade.”

Urging the investors and stakeholders attending the maritime summit to partner with India, Modi said the “government is working to bring together all stakeholders in the sector through maritime clusters.” Ship-building and repair centers will be developed in many places, he said.

He mentioned that India is already at second place in the field of ship recycling. He also informed about the effort to make the major ports in India carbon-neutral via a net-zero strategy for the sector. “We are moving towards a future where the Blue Economy will be the medium to create a Green Planet”.

The Prime Minister underlined that work is underway in India for the big players in the maritime sector to enter the country and mentioned GIFT City in Ahmedabad which has launched ship leasing as a financial service while offering discounts at the same time. Shri Modi expressed delight that 4 global ship leasing companies of the world have also registered with GIFT IFSC.

Laying emphasis on the increase in capacity of the major ports in India, the Prime Minister said that the capacity of major ports in India has doubled, and turnaround time for big vessels has come down to less than 24 hours as compared to 42 hours in 2014.

Narendra Modi also mentioned the construction of new roads to increase port connectivity and touched upon the SagarMala Project to strengthen the coastal infrastructure.

During the event, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for projects worth more than Rs 23,000 crores.