New Delhi, Nov 18 (IANS) Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, on Tuesday said he held discussions with top executives of Japan’s leading shipping companies for collaboration in shipbuilding with the aim of making India a global maritime hub.

Puri, who is on a visit to Japan, said, “In a productive meeting with Yukikazu Myochin, Chairman of ‘K’ Line, Japan, discussed the initiatives being taken to transform India into a maritime shipping hub under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

With their expertise in shipbuilding monitoring and delivery, chartering and long presence and partnerships in India, ‘K Line’ can contribute substantially in our quest to ‘Make in India for the World’ in shipbuilding, the minister said in a post on X.

The minister said he also discussed the ongoing shipping business between the Indian public sector oil companies and NYK Line Japan with Nobuhiro Kashima, Senior Managing Executive Officer of the company, and prospects of future manufacturing collaboration in the spirit of ‘Make in India’.

“Discussed how Indian companies are looking forward to exploring collaboration opportunities with NYK on technology transfer, shipbuilding monitoring, knowledge sharing, joint shipbuilding and ship operations among other areas,” the minister wrote on X.

The minister mentioned at the meeting that among the steps being taken by the government for a shipbuilding business ecosystem, a Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme (SBFAS) and Maritime Development Fund (MDF) have been launched with a combined corpus of over $6 billion, to reduce the effective cost of debt and improve project bankability.

He pointed out that India’s energy sector is in the midst of an unprecedented expansion. As the country journeys towards achieving energy security, there is a growing need for large vessels to support the existing and future operations, as $5-8 billion is spent every year on freight charges.

Puri further stated that the government has taken several steps to establish a shipbuilding ecosystem to ensure that the vessels required to support the country’s needs are manufactured in India with the spirit of ‘Make in India for the World.’

–IANS

sps/na