The latest Union Budget 2025 has set its sights on enhancing the nation’s shipbuilding capacity.

Experts predict that the budget’s incentives and focus on shipbuilding will have a profound impact on Kerala’s maritime landscape, driving growth and innovation in the state’s shipbuilding and ancillary industries.

D Dhanuraj, Chairman of Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), in speaking to The New Indian Express (TNIE) on the matter, hailed the extension of the tonnage tax scheme to inland vessels, citing its potential to boost domestic vessel registration and encourage indigenous manufacturing.

“This move will incentivise Indian companies to secure more orders and build vessels within the country, rather than resorting to overseas construction and subsequent imports,”

Dhanuraj is quoted as explaining.

Read the TNIE article here.

Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of the Centre for Public Policy Research.