Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Secretary T
K Ramachandran at an event organised by industry body CII said, the government is also looking at granting
infrastructure status to the shipping sector. “The government is working to
set up Maritime Development Fund (MDF) for low-cost, long-term financing
support,” Ramachandran said.
According to him, the two options for setting up MDF
are — setting up dedicated maritime vertical under the newly proposed
development finance institution, or constituting standalone MDF as a company
with majority ownership by multilateral/ bilateral agency.
Ramachandran
further said the government is also considering notifying guidelines for
setting up NBFCs at International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) to undertake
vessel financing/ leasing from IFSC.
The government is also looking at removing restriction
on foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) investing in category I and category II
AIFs and amend Alternate Investment Fund (AIF) regulations to create a separate
category of AIFs for investments in ship leasing companies.
According to the secretary, the government is also
considering removing restriction on investment in ship leasing by insurance
companies. He also said that the ports ministry is planning to extend the
shipbuilding financial assistance policy for another 10 years.
Ramachandran said his ministry is working for
development of shipbuilding & repair clusters at Mumbai, Kochi and Chennai.
He said investment of Rs 75-80 trillion
is envisaged in the maritime sector under the Blue Economy 2047 initiative.