India plans to add 100 ships to its merchant fleet over the next five years to cut its foreign freight bill.

The plan came up at the first ever Sagar Samvad, an event organised by the National Shipping Board where policymakers and shipping industry representatives discussed why Indian flagged vessels struggle to compete globally.

Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Shantanu Thakur said India currently pays close to $75 billion every year to foreign shipping lines just to move cargo like crude oil, gas, coal and urea. That’s money leaving the country simply because India doesn’t own enough ships of its own.

Thakur called this a competitiveness problem, not a performance issue for Indian shipowners.

So what’s actually pushing up costs for Indian ships? Industry representatives said running a ship under the Indian flag costs 16 to 20% more than running the same ship under a foreign flag. This gap comes from taxes on ship imports, taxes on seafarers’ wages, freight taxation and higher borrowing costs within India.

To fix this, the panel laid out a five point roadmap covering fiscal reforms, guaranteed cargo support, access to cheaper financing, simpler regulations and easier business rules. Officials believe these steps together could help India add 100 ships within five years.

Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal welcomed the roadmap, calling it one connected strategy rather than five separate fixes. He also spoke about growing India’s port capacity to 10,000 million tonnes a year by 2047.

This push fits into India’s Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, aimed at making the country one of the world’s top five ship owning nations. The government is also backing domestic container manufacturing, with shipping major Maersk already placing orders for containers built in India.

The event also touched on jobs. Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya spoke about training more seafarers for newer areas like cruise shipping, since India already supplies a large share of the world’s seafarers.

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