IFSCA sets up committee to develop avenues for ship financing, leasing

The panel, to be chaired by Vandana Aggarwal, former Sr Economic Advisor, Govt of India will include representatives from GOI, Gujarat Maritime Board and industry experts

The International Financial Services Centre Authority (IFSCA) has constituted a committee to examine global best practices in financing and leasing of ships, identify opportunities and devise a roadmap to enable such activities from GIFT IFSC.

Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City is a business district near Ahmedabad in Gujarat. It is country's first operational greenfield smart city and international financial services centre.

This committee, to be chaired by Vandana Aggarwal, former Senior Economic Advisor,  Government of India will include representatives from the Government of India,  Gujarat Maritime Board and industry experts possessing domain knowledge.

India is strategically located on the world’s shipping routes and has a large coastline of approximately 7500 kms.

India also has 12 major and over 200 minor ports. Ministry of Shipping suggests that 95 percent of India’s trading by volume and 70 percent by value is done  via maritime transport.

In spite of significant exposure to shipping, India is yet to develop as an international shipping hub.

IFSCA aims to provide an enabling regulatory framework and facilitative environment so that GIFT IFSC can become an international hub for Ship Financing & Leasing activities thereby benefitting shipowners, lessors, carriers, ship operators, ship management companies and other stakeholders in the maritime ecosystem.

The committee is mandated to examine the existing legal, regulatory, tax and other applicable  frameworks, identify the bottlenecks pertaining to ship financing and leasing and recommend  specific measures required which shall enable ship financing and leasing from IFSC at par with  best international practices. The committee would submit its recommendations to IFSCA in three months.