FM announces ₹10,000 cr container manufacturing scheme, 20 new waterways

New ship repair facilities for river vessels, coastal cargo promotion scheme also announced

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has earmarked ₹10,000 crore in the Union Budget for container manufacturing, alongside a massive expansion of 20 waterways, new ship-repair hubs in Varanasi and Patna, and a scheme to promote coastal shipping.

 

The new waterways will be operationalised over the next five years, she said on Sunday.

 

India’s container manufacturing capacity is around 30,000 units a year, according to industry and government estimates. In contrast, China, which dominates the global container market, has the capacity to produce 5 million units a year.

 

The Budget announced a coastal cargo promotion scheme to increase the share of coastal shipping and inland waterways to 12 per cent of the national modal share by 2047. It also announced a scheme for sea planes.

 

“To enhance last-mile and remote connectivity and promote tourism, I propose to introduce a scheme to encourage domestic production of sea planes,” Sitharaman said.

 

According to experts, India’s export-led strategy for Viksit Bharat requires more containers. Moreover, the Bharat Container Shipping Line will also be in operation soon, and it will need its own asset base of containers.

 

The government wants to bridge the cost differential between an India-made container and prevailing market rates, and this will require state support both on the input costs of setting up facilities and output-linked incentives.

 

BCSL was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October as India’s new national container carrier, with financial backing from the Shipping Corporation of India and the Container Corporation of India. It will start operations with around 51 vessels.