The Mumbai Port Authority (MPA) and the Maharashtra government will form an equally owned Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to set up a greenfield shipbuilding cluster.
According to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW), the new shipbuilding cluster will be developed under the Shipbuilding Development Scheme (SbDS).
The SbDS will back the project with 100 per cent grant support "for eligible components" to boost India’s shipbuilding capacity, the MoPSW added, in an X post.
The SbDS, with a corpus of Rs 19,989 crore, is a major initiative that is part of a comprehensive maritime package of Rs 69,725 crore, announced by the Centre back in September 2025.
The aim of the SbDS is to develop greenfield shipbuilding clusters, expand and modernise existing brownfield shipyards, and establish an India Ship Technology Centre under the Indian Maritime University.
“The project is proposed to be developed under a landlord model, following which further action relating to funding, infrastructure development, and investment facilitation would be initiated,” MPA chairman M. Angamuthu told ET Infra.
In that regard, the state government has hired a consultant to draft a Techno-Economic Feasibility Report (TEFR) for three locations—Nandgaon, Dighi and Vijaydurg. After that, a Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be prepared for the selected cluster in about six months.
Angamuthu added that the MPA had also agreed to bear half the cost of the TEFR report preparation.
This comes days after a similar SPV—called the National Shipbuilding & Heavy Industries Park (NSHIP)—was formed between the V.O. Chidambaranar Port in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin and the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (SIPCOT), a state venture.
This SPV was also formed for the development of a greenfield cluster at Tuticorin, in order to boost commercial shipbuilding and employment opportunities.
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