India’s shipbuilding industry has received an infrastructure status as the country’s Ministry of Finance has placed the shipyards on its Harmonized Master List of Infrastructure in an effort to support indigenous vessels program.
With this move, the country’s shipyards will be eligible to receive long-term financing at lower rates, with private shipyards, L&T Shipbuilding, Reliance Defence and Engineering Shipyard and ABG Shipyard, seeing the biggest gain, according to The Times of India.
“The new list incorporates the following change to the notification dated 13th October, 2014: Under the category of “Transport” a new sub-sector – “Shipyards” is added,” the ministry confirmed.
The transport category now consist of roads, bridges, ports, shipyards, inland waterways, airport, railway track, tunnels, viaducts, and urban public transport.
This is India’s latest step toward the indigenous vessels plan, as the country’s government introduced a number of indirect tax incentives for the country’s shipbuilding industry in November 2015.
The indirect tax incentives available to the shipbuilding industry now include exemption from basic customs duty and additional duty of customs (CVD) on all raw material and parts for manufacturing of vessels, subject to the condition that such manufacturing takes place in a custom bounded warehouse, as well as exemption from central excise duty on steel procured domestically for manufacturing of vessels in a custom bounded warehouse.
World Maritime News Staff