What is the government doing to revamp the shipping sector?
We are looking to attract greater investment and build capacity. The government rationalised the fiscal regime by introducing the tonnage tax system from FY05. This was done to give the Indian shipping industry a level playing field vis-à-vis international shipping companies. Although we rank 17th in world tonnage, the share of Indian ships in overseas trade has been declining. It was at 9.5% in 2007-08 as against 12.2% in 2006-07. The Planning Commission had envisaged a target of 12 million gross tonnage (GT) at the end of the 11th Five Year Plan. Tonnage has grown steadily in the last five years and stood at 9.72 million GT as of May 2010. We are hopeful of meeting the Planning Commission target. What is the ministry doing to improve the competitiveness of Indian ports, given how many large international vessels avoid docking here? Dredging projects have been planned to increase the draught (depth of the channel) from 14 metres to 17 metres at many major ports. We are improving hinte
