India Needs to Support Logistics

Global uncertainties affecting sector but India can tide over them, say industry veterans

- BS REPORTER

Shipbuilding, logistics and ports will drive India's blue economy, according to two senior maritime industry experts who discussed the sector's prospects at the Business Standard Infrastructure Summit in New Delhi.

Logistics and shipbuilding can be sectors of national pride, said Amit Singh, head of business, MOL South Asia Middle East (Mitsui OSK Lines) and Kapil Mahajan, chief information and technology officer at Allcargo Logistics, during a panel discussion moderated by Business Standard's Ruchika Chitravanshi.

"The government is very interested in building our maritime interests. We have lagged for two decades. But now the time has come that in the next 15-20 years, we have to increase our market share in shipbuilding significantly," said Singh. He called for expanding the use of Indian-flagged vessels, tankers, and gas carriers.

India accounts for 0.06 per cent of global shipbuilding and controls only 5 per cent of its own maritime tonnage. Over 90 per cent of the world's shipbuilding in 2018 was done in China, South Korea, and Japan.

India plans investments of ₹80 trillion to make the country a maritime power by 2047, according to Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, a policy formulated by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways. Of that amount, around ₹54 trillion is expected to be spent on developing indigenous shipbuilding and shipping capabilities.