The National Shipping Board (NSB) has proposed a five-point roadmap to add 100 vessels to India’s merchant fleet over the next five years, as part of efforts to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign shipping lines for transporting critical cargo.
The roadmap, which focuses on fiscal reforms, assured cargo support, access to competitive financing, regulatory streamlining and improved ease of doing business, was discussed at the inaugural Sagar Samvad organised by the NSB on August 24, 2026. The event was themed “Charting the Roadmap Towards Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047.”
Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, who chaired the event, welcomed the proposed measures, saying they would enable Indian shipowners to participate more effectively in the country’s expanding maritime economy.
“Taken together, these are not five separate asks; they are the architecture of a nation choosing, at last, to own its own trade,” Sonowal said.
Indian shipping faces higher operating costs
The NSB highlighted the scale of India’s dependence on foreign shipping, noting that the country currently pays nearly $75 billion annually in freight charges to foreign shipping lines for transporting commodities such as crude oil, gas, coal and urea.
During a session on “Augmentation of Indian Tonnage — Opportunities and Challenges,” industry stakeholders pointed out that operating ships under the Indian flag remains around 16% to 20% more expensive than operating under foreign flags.
The higher cost, they said, is driven by factors including taxes on ship imports and maintenance services, taxation of seafarers’ wages and freight, and relatively high domestic financing costs.
Push to strengthen domestic tonnage
Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Shantanu Thakur stressed that India could not continue to depend on foreign shipping lines to secure its trade routes. He called for greater efforts to expand domestic tonnage and strengthen the country’s shipping capabilities.
The NSB’s five-point roadmap is intended to support the government’s ambition of making India one of the world’s top five ship-owning nations by 2047 under the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision.
The inaugural Sagar Samvad brought together policymakers, shipowners, financiers, maritime experts and trainee officers to discuss measures to strengthen India’s shipping ecosystem. The discussions focused on building a more competitive, resilient and future-ready maritime sector while expanding the role of Indian-flagged vessels in the country’s trade.
