Parliament Question: Indigenous Container Manufacturing

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PORTS, SHIPPING AND WATERWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2297 ANSWERED ON 31.07.2026 INDIGENOUS CONTAINER MANUFACTURING

2297. SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN:

Will the MINISTER OF PORTS, SHIPPING AND WATERWAYS be pleased to state: प(cid:517)न, पोत प(cid:303)रवहन और जलमाग(cid:330) मं(cid:361)ी

(a) whether the Government has achieved a milestone in indigenous container manufacturing by facilitating the production of India’s first international export-import

(EXIM) shipping containers in 2026;

(b) the details of the Production Linked Incentives (PLI) framework formulated to support domestic shipping container manufacturing and make it globally competitive;

(c) whether the Government is contemplating the expansion of National Waterways, including the operationalization of new inland connectivity routes; and

(d) the roadmap for the Atmanirbhar Bharat vision in the maritime sector to reduce dependency on foreign imports and generate employment opportunities? ANSWER MINISTER OF PORTS, SHIPPING AND WATERWAYS (SHRI SARBANANDA SONOWAL)

(a) An order for shipping containers was placed by a global shipping line on an Indian container manufacturer. The domestically produced prototype container was unveiled at Dadri, Uttar Pradesh on 03.07.2026. The shipping container are produced in accordance with internationally accepted quality and safety standards, including International Organization for Standardization (ISO) specifications and the International Convention for Safe Containers (CSC).

(b) The Government in Budget Speech 2026-27 has announced a Scheme for container manufacturing in India with a budget outlay of ₹ 10,000 crore aimed at creating globally competitive container manufacturing ecosystem in the country.

(c) The Union Budget of 2026 announced plans to operationalize 19 new National Waterways over the next five years, building upon the 32 national waterways that are already operational for cargo/ passenger movement out of a total network of 111 declared waterways

(d) The Government has approved a comprehensive ₹69,725 crore package to strengthen domestic shipbuilding capacity, maritime financing, shipyard development, skilling, and reforms. Key components of the package include:i. Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme (SBFAS), an extension of Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy (SBFAP), with outlay of ₹ 24,736 crore to address cost disadvantages of Indian shipyards vis-a-vis global shipyards;

ii. Maritime Development Fund (MDF) corpus of ₹ 25,000 crore for providing long term financing support to shipbuilding and maritime sector comprising a Maritime Investment Fund (MIF) of ₹ 20,000 crore and Interest Incentivisation Fund (IIF) of ₹ 5,000 crore;

iii. Shipbuilding Development Scheme (SbDS) with ₹19,989 crore outlay to expand Indian shipbuilding output capacity by setting up greenfield shipbuilding clusters and capacity expansion of the existing shipyards.

Further, further given the high employment multiplier of 6.4 in shipbuilding industry, the employment generation potential through these schemes is of around 2.2 million jobs including direct as well as indirect employment.

*****