Remodelling Maritime Finance in India

(Veer Puri – Observer Research Foundation) India’s maritime industry is at a crossroads. The Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047 lays out a bold path to make India a global maritime hub, which would need an investment of INR 80 lakh crore and increasing the domestic shipbuilding capacity from 0.072 to 11.31 million gross tonnes per year. The ageing 22-year-old fleet with a financing rate of 9–10 percent, which is 300–500 basis points higher than the world rates, remains a serious impediment. These high prices are not the result of fiscal limitation but structural deficiencies. Drawing on lessons from South Korea, Norway, and Brazil, this brief examines how institutional reforms in guarantee mechanisms, development banking, and freight taxation can bring India’s maritime financing costs to the global range of 5–6 percent, unlocking the investment needed to realise its 2047 maritime ambitions. – Remodelling Maritime Finance in India