The Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing hard to develop and expand India's maritime economy, looking to boost port capacity as well as shipbuilding and ship repairing in the country. At this year's India Maritime Week, over 600 Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) worth over Rs 12 lakh crore have been signed across multiple areas.
"The MOUs that have been signed are in diverse sectors like port development, indigenous shipbuilding, container manufacturing, and many more covering sectors like technology, sustainability...," Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said on Thursday.
In the previous edition of the maritime summit, MOUs worth around Rs 8.5 lakh crore had been signed. An MoU is essentially a formal non-binding agreement for collaboration and partnership. Notably, Sonowal informed that close to Rs 5.5 lakh crore worth of the MOUs signed last time around have been "grounded."
Vijay Kumar, secretary in the ports, shipping and waterways ministry explained that maritime sector projects were long gestation projects. However, in the case of 60 per cent of the MOUs that were entered in previous summit, money had started coming as was committed.
Of the MOUs signed this time, 30 per cent of the MOUs are for port development, 20 per cent is towards sustainable green shipping and green ports, 20 per cent is towards shipping and shipbuilding, 20 per cent is towards port-led industrialisation, and 10 per cent is to create business and skill, pointed Kumar.
The Inland Waterways Authority has inked MOUs worth around Rs 40,000 crore, it was informed.
"Prime Minister Modi has given two visions - India Maritime Vision 2030 and the other India Amrit kaal vision 2047. For both, we have started targets in different verticals - from cargo handling to port capacity, ship ownership, modernisation, research, development, training, reskilling, design, shipbuilding repair, and ship recycling. In all these verticals, we are committed to enhance capacity and capability," said Sonowal.
The expectation is that the huge push to develop the maritime sector will create huge number of jobs, something that India critically needs given the large number of young population.
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The upcoming mega deep sea port at Vadhavan in Maharashtra will alone create around 12 lakh direct and indirect jobs, according to Sonowal. "There will be millions of job opportunities from shipbuilding, ship repairs, recycling, and other ecosystem clusters," he said.
Officials say shipbuilding has a multiplier effect on the economy, with every rupee invested leading to six times investment in the ecosystem.
The share of Indian seafearers is also growing from what was earlier in single digits to 12 per cent now, and by 2030, the plan is to take it to 20 per cent, officials said.