Mumbai, Feb. 3 -- The Union Budget, presented by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 01 February 2025 has provided significant impetus to the promotion of Shipping Sector in the country.

For long-term financing for the maritime industry, the Finance Minister has proposed to set up a Maritime Development Fund with a corpus of Rs 25,000 crore.

This corpus will be for distributed support and promoting competition in the maritime industry. The fund will have up to 49 per cent contribution by the Government, and the balance will be mobilized from ports and private sector.

In her Budget speech, the Finance Minister said: "The Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy will be revamped to address cost disadvantages. This will also ...