The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways announced significant developments in India's maritime and manufacturing sectors. A global shipping line has placed an order for shipping containers with an Indian manufacturer, with the domestically produced prototype container unveiled at Dadri, Uttar Pradesh on July 3, 2026. These containers are produced in accordance with internationally accepted quality and safety standards, including International Organization for Standardization (ISO) specifications and the International Convention for Safe Containers (CSC).
In the Budget Speech 2026-27, the Government announced a Scheme for container manufacturing in India with a budget outlay of ₹10,000 crore aimed at creating a globally competitive container manufacturing ecosystem in the country. Additionally, the Union Budget of 2026 announced plans to operationalize 19 new National Waterways over the next five years, building upon the 32 national waterways that are already operational for cargo/passenger movement out of a total network of 111 declared waterways.
The Government has approved a comprehensive ₹69,725 crore package to strengthen domestic shipbuilding capacity, maritime financing, shipyard development, skilling, and reforms. Key components include the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme (SBFAS) with an outlay of ₹24,736 crore to address cost disadvantages of Indian shipyards vis-à-vis global shipyards. The package also establishes a Maritime Development Fund (MDF) corpus of ₹25,000 crore for providing long-term financing support to the shipbuilding and maritime sector, comprising a Maritime Investment Fund (MIF) of ₹20,000 crore and an Interest Incentivisation Fund (IIF) of ₹5,000 crore. Furthermore, the Shipbuilding Development Scheme (SbDS) with a ₹19,989 crore outlay aims to expand Indian shipbuilding output capacity by setting up greenfield shipbuilding clusters and capacity expansion of existing shipyards.
Given the high employment multiplier of 6.4 in the shipbuilding industry, the employment generation potential through these schemes is approximately 2.2 million jobs including both direct and indirect employment. This information was provided by the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.