As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Union Budget 2026-27 in the Parliament on Sunday, February 1, the maritime sector was greeted with a slew of major updates.
What began as a cargo-heavy announcement for setting up dedicated freight corridors shifted its focus to inland waterways and, even, seaplanes.
For more maritime and shipping news and views, visit: Maritime, Ahoy!
To promote environmentally sustainable movement of cargo, Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to:
1. Establish new freight corridors connecting Dhankuni in the East to Surat in the West
2. Operationalise 20 new waterways over the next 5 years, starting with NW-5 in Odisha to connect mineral-rich areas and industrial areas to ports like Paradip and Damra.
3. Set up training centres for the training required manpower for the inland waterways. "This will benefit the youth in the entire stretch of the waterways," said Sitharaman.
4. Establish a ship-repair ecosystem catering to inland waterways at Varanasi and Patna
5. Launch a coastal cargo promotion scheme for incentivising a modal shift from rail to road to increase the share of inland waterways and coastal shipping from 6 per cent to 12 per cent by 2047.
6. Promote indigenous manufacturing of sea-planes to enhance last-mile and remote connectivity, and promote tourism.
Customs process, cargo, ports, containers
"India's role and share in global trade is poised for a major leap, in line with our ambition and journey towards 'Viksit Bharat'. In this regard, I propose many measures for custom processes to have minimal intervention for smoother and faster movement of goods and greater certainty to the trade," said the finance minister.
"Regular importers with trusted longstanding supply chains will be recognised in the risk system, so that the need for verification of their cargo every time can be minimised. Export cargo using electronic sealing will be provided through clearance from the factory premises to the ship."
"Utilisation of non-intrusive scanning with advanced imaging and AI technology for risk assessment will be expanded in a phased manner with the objective to scan every container across all the major ports."
Fishing and marine resources
1. Fish caught by an Indian fishing vessel in Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) or on the High Seas to be made free of duty.
2. Landing of such fish on foreign port will be treated as export of goods. Safeguards will be put in place to prevent misuse during fish catch, transit and transshipment.
3. Sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Customs Act, 1962 is being amended to extend the jurisdiction of the said Act beyond the territorial waters of India, for the purpose of fishing and fishing-related activities.
4. A new section 56A is being inserted to provide special provisions for fishing and fishing-related activities by an Indian-flagged fishing vessel beyond the territorial waters of India. It also provides that fish harvested beyond the territorial waters of India may be brought into India free of duty and to treat fish that has landed at foreign port as export of goods in such manner as may be provided by rules. It also provides to make regulations to provide for the form and manner of making an entry in respect of fish harvested by an Indian-flagged fishing vessel including its declaration, custody, examination, assessment of duty, clearance, transit or transhipment.