The Centre’s ambitious plan to position India among the world’s leading shipbuilding nations is starting to deliver results, with domestic shipyards securing export orders from global shipping companies and international shipbuilders exploring investments in new manufacturing clusters across the country, shipping secretary Vijay Kumar said in an exclusive interview with Mint.
Last year the government unveiled a comprehensive ₹70,000-crore shipbuilding package aimed at addressing both supply-side constraints and demand visibility in the sector. The package rests on four pillars—capacity expansion of shipyards, the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme (SBFAS), the Maritime Development Fund (MDF), and legislative reforms.
A key element of the strategy has been demand aggregation by the government, which has created visibility for around 437 vessels across various categories. Of these, 62 vessels form part of a one-year procurement pipeline, and tenders or expressions of interest have already been floated for 38 ships.
“We are tackling both sides of the equation—building capacity and ensuring a pipeline of orders,” Kumar said, adding that the response from domestic and international players has been “very encouraging”.
Orders rolling in
The policy push is already translating into business for Indian yards, Kumar added, with state-run Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) recently securing an export order from French shipping giant CMA CGM for six feeder container vessels with a capacity of around 1,700 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). This is one of the largest commercial export shipbuilding contracts ever won by an Indian yard.
Meanwhile, private shipbuilder Swan Defence and Heavy Industries won orders for six chemical tankers from Norway’s Rederiet Stenersen and four Kamsarmax bulk carriers from NEO with a capacity of 80,000-85,000 dead weight tonnes (DWT), he added. State-owned Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders secured an order worth about ₹330 crore from Shipping Corporation of India for a methanol dual-fuel platform supply vessel. This is a landmark green technology order for a domestic shipyard, the secretary said.
The emergence of export orders signals growing global confidence in India’s shipbuilding capabilities, Kumar added. “The fact that global shipping companies are placing orders with Indian yards shows that Indian shipbuilding is becoming competitive and there is confidence in the policy measures taken by the government,” he said.
Moving up the value chain
He added that India’s have moved beyond small vessels to complex, larger ships and tankers, as proven by the financing secured by yards under the government’s revamped Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme (SBFAS). Indian yards now produce sophisticated ships including container vessels, chemical and product tankers, LPG carriers, Kamsarmax bulk carriers, offshore support vessels, LNG-powered ships and other green-fuel vessels, Kumar said. “We are not only making more ships but we are making bigger ships and we are making ships for the world,” he added.
The shipping ministry said it has received 36 applications covering contracts worth around ₹8,000 crore since the revamped SBFAS became operational in September 2025. These projects are eligible for a total government subsidy exceeding ₹1,700 crore.
New manufacturing hubs
Kumar said to support future growth, the Centre has approved in principle two large greenfield shipbuilding clusters in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and is processing similar proposals in Gujarat (Kuchadi), Maharashtra (Dighi) and Odisha (Kendrapada). “Two more shipbuilding clusters, one in Gujarat and another in Maharashtra, will be approved by the ministry soon,” he said.
The proposed cluster at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu is expected to become one of the country’s largest shipbuilding hubs, Kumar added. The state has already signed an agreement with South Korea’s HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE), an HD Hyundai subsidiary, to build a mega shipyard with a 2.5-million gross tonnage annual capacity. Meanwhile, the planned cluster at Dugarajapatnam in Andhra Pradesh will have a capacity of about 1.2 million gross tonnage per year.
Under the Shipbuilding Development Scheme, the government plans to invest nearly ₹10,000 crore to build integrated shipbuilding clusters with common infrastructure, maritime assets, and industrial ecosystems. Additionally, anchor investors are expected to bring a minimum investment of ₹25,000 crore to each cluster.
Beyond these new greenfield projects, the ministry is also backing the expansion of existing yards. Kumar noted that Swan Defence is expanding its Pipavav facility in Gujarat, while Titagarh Naval Systems is building a new facility at Falta in West Bengal.
Financial support strategy
The government’s financial support is centred on the , under which ₹25,000 crore of budgetary support has been planned over FY26-FY36. The framework includes a ₹20,000-crore Maritime Investment Fund for equity support and a ₹5,000-crore Interest Incentivization Fund aimed at lowering borrowing costs for maritime projects.
India is also seeking to build an integrated maritime manufacturing ecosystem through ship repair and recycling. The Union cabinet recently approved a ₹1,570-crore ship repair facility at Vadinar in Gujarat to be developed jointly by CSL and Deendayal Port Authority. The facility is expected to handle around 34 vessels a year.
Simultaneously, the government has launched a ship recycling credit note scheme under which recyclers can receive credits equivalent to 40% of scrap value. An official at the ministry said the initiative has drawn international attention, with India becoming one of the few countries to incentivise environmentally compliant ship recycling.
With export orders rising, global investors showing interest, and multiple manufacturing clusters under development, policymakers believe the sector is entering a transformative phase. “This is one sector where a lot of things are happening simultaneously,” Kumar said. “The ecosystem is expanding across shipbuilding, ship repair and ship recycling, creating the foundation for India to become a major maritime manufacturing hub.”