Government has taken steps to promote ship repair industry in India which include: (i) Service tax exemption granted by the Central Government vide exemption notification no. 14/2014-ST dated July 11, 2014 for repair of foreign going vessels by Indian shipyards to reduce operational costs of ship repair units. (ii) Government has dispensed with the requirement for registration of ship repair units with Director General (Shipping) in December, 2014 to promote “Ease of Doing Business”.
The ship repair industry has a sizeable potential of about Rs.2,700 crores in India. However, India’s ship repair turnover has fallen short of the potential. Some of the major problems affecting the ship repair industry in India include:
i. Lack of cheap and long term financing for ship repair industry as it does not enjoy infrastructure status.
ii. Higher ship repair costs especially for repair of domestic vessels due to prevailing tax regime.
iii. Complex customs bonding processes leading to time delays and increase in cost overruns.
This information was given by Minister of State for Ministry of Shipping, Shri Pon Radhakrishnan in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.