New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday highlighted that the country’s growing and resilient industrial base with the ‘Make in India’ impetus and efforts to modernise, mechanise and digitise ports, along the busy east-west trade route, have provided the country with a unique advantage.

The Prime Minister, in a post on X social media platform, referred to an article by Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal which states that the government’s $8 billion package to rejuvenate India’s shipbuilding and maritime ecosystem is not a routine budget line, but a signal of ambition.”

The minister has underlined that the shipping industry once dismissed as a laggard in the energy transition, is now confronting a point of inflexion. Heeding to the call for climate action, global momentum to tighten emissions standards have gathered speed, while financiers are also redirecting capital towards zero-carbon vessels and fuels, and technology is advancing faster. In this swirl of change, India stands at a rare confluence of opportunity and capability.

He refers to this as “a quiet revolution gathering momentum across the world’s oceans” in the article titled: ‘India can lead the global shift to green shipping.’

Sonowal further states that the PM Modi government has worked towards building a solid base for renewable energy which has in turn positioned India with one of lowest renewable energy costs globally.

A growing and resilient industrial base with ‘Make in India’ impetus, and efforts to modernise, mechanise and digitise ports along the busy east-west trade route have provided the country with unique advantage — moving from a position of whether our maritime sector can join the global green maritime transition meaningfully, to whether we can lead it decisively.

The government’s recent approval of Rs 69,725 crore ($8 billion) package to reimagine, revive and rejuvenate India’s shipbuilding and maritime ecosystem is not a routine budget line, but a signal of ambition. By investing at scale, the PM Modi government has sent a message that India shall take a meaningful role in the global shift to low-carbon shipping, Sonowal states.

–IANS

sps/na