The growth registered by the domestic shipping industry in the country during each of the last three years is given below:

As per the Maritime India Vision-2030 published by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, the global downturn in the shipbuilding industry significantly impacted the Indian shipyards and India’s share in the Global markets has declined to less than 1%. Further, the Government of India has approved the Financial Assistance Policy for Indian Shipyards on 9^th December 2015 for grant of financial assistance to Indian Shipyards for shipbuilding contracts signed between April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2026. The above policy caters for domestic orders and export orders, in accordance with the guidelines issued in this respect.

The Shipyard is provided financial assistance upon delivery of the vessels. 21 Shipyards spread across various States have registered under the scheme with details of around 170 vessels which are being constructed. Out of which 47 vessels are built and delivered by 09 shipyards for which financial assistance is already sanctioned

The initiatives taken/being taken by the Government for upgradation of infrastructure in the ports are as follows:

1. The PCS 1x has digitized processes such as Electronic Invoice (e-Invoice), Electronic Payment (e-Payment) and Electronic Delivery Order (e-DO) for physical release of cargo by custodians. Further, the process of generation of electronic Bill of Lading (e-BL) and enabling the Letter of Credit (LC) process to be conducted digitally have already been implemented in the PCS 1x. There is also going to be complete integration between PCS 1x and Indian Customs EDI Gateway (ICEGATE). Partial integration has been completed.
2. Further, the Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) solution has been implemented at all major ports to enable seamless movement of traffic across port gates, including substantial reductions in documentation checks. All Major ports have already implemented Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID).
3. Up gradation and integration with recent technologies- IoT, Block Chain to ease transaction and real time basis tracking has been envisaged in Maritime India Vision 2030.
4. Further the process to bootstrap PCS 1x into National Logistics Portal-Marine (NLP-Marine) is already underway which will act as a Unified Digital Platform all maritime stakeholders. NLP Marine + PCS 1x platform is envisaged as the central hub for all interactions with various stakeholders viz. Port, Terminals Shipping Lines/ Agents, CFS and Customs Brokers, Importer / Exporter etc.
5. Logistics Data Bank Service under Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Ltd. (DMICDC), for enabling track & trace movement of EXIM container has been implemented in all the Container handling Major Ports.
6. An Enterprise Business System (EBS) is being implemented at 5 Major Ports (Mumbai ,  Chennai, Deendayal, Paradip, Kolkata (including Haldia) Port with project cost of approx. 320 crores) to provide a digital port ecosystem that will adopt leading International Practices without losing its alignment to existing local needs). A total of 2474 processes across five ports were rationalized, harmonized, optimized and standardized to arrive at a final reengineered process count of 162 processes.
7. In order to bring all regulators near port area, the Port has allotted the office space to Participating Government Agencies (PGAs) like Animal Quarantine, Textile Commission and Asst. Drug Controller. Port has also allotted the land to FSSAI & Drug controller for setting up of laboratories. This is a step towards better coordination between PGAs and other stakeholders like customs, CHAs, Custodians, etc. It is envisaged that the present high dwell time for the consignments assigned for PGA clearance will be reduced drastically once the PGAs are present at the port area only.

Further, in order to augment the Indian tonnage in the shipping industry, this Ministry has implemented a new scheme for promotion of flagging of merchant ships in India by providing subsidy support to Indian Shipping companies in global tenders floated by Ministries/Department/CPSEs. In order to promote to objective of Atamanirbhar Bharat, the Government of India has approved a Scheme to provide Rs. 1624 crore over a period of five years and it was approved by the Cabinet on 14^th July, 2021. As the outcome of the scheme Indian Shipping companies will become Internationally competitive while importing government cargo.

This information was given by Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Shri Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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MJPS