News Detail

• In an Interview with ET Now, K Mohandas, Shipping Secretary, gives his views on shipping industry outlook, dredging policy, coastal policy and MCA norms.
• ET Now: What is your outlook for shipping industry and for the port industry for this year?
• K Mohandas : This is a global phenomenon in which we really do not have any control. It is basically a function of the supply-demand situation in the shipping industry, so the market forces will determine the indices. Unfortunately the performance is poor as of now. We would like to wait and watch how long this situation lasts.
• ET Now: The industry as such is also facing various headwinds and is also awaiting announcements of various policies like the dredging policy, coastal policy, MCA norms. By when can we expect some announcement on these fronts?
• K Mohandas : As far as the development of ports is concerned, there is a lot of activity taking place. The policies are either there or are under very active preparation, which means that they would be out very soon. For the PPP projects, which is the main mode of execution of port expansion as of now, there are well settled policies and very clearly laid down procedures.
• Now as far as the captive policy is concerned, we already have something in the public domain, which is of course a draft but it is going to be finalised very soon. This will definitely be of help to the industries who can set up captive berths in the major ports.
• As far as the other policy interventions are concerned, one important requirement is a new land policy, which again is at a very advanced stage of preparation. It should come out very soon, which would mean that the port land can be profitability used by the port users.
• There are definitely a few other things on the anvil. Most of this has been based on the maritime agenda, which is a mission for the decade 2010-2020, which we brought out more than a year back. A lot of things that were envisaged in the maritime agenda are now happening.
• ET Now: A draft Cabinet note proposing reintroduction of shipping subsidy was circulated to various ministries for the comment. What's the development on that front?
• K Mohandas : Proposals for incentivising shipbuilding are yet to be finalized. We do have definite proposals in the ministry but then this involves inter-ministerial consultations and decision making, so we are continuing with the process. We would be discussing with the various other ministries and will come out with an appropriate package without much delay.
• ET Now: Is it important to introduce shipping subsidy at a time when the entire industry is grappling with problem of overcapacity?
• K Mohandas : The subsidy scheme, which was there was discontinued in 2007 and ever since then the Ministry has been working on a new subsidy package. It is true that as on today, the shipbuilding companies globally are not doing that great. This is because the orders are coming down. They have come down but then this is a cyclic phenomenon in the shipping industry. It is to be expected that the revival of the industry will take place very soon.
• Very soon of course does not mean that it is going to happen this year or the next year. It may take two years, three years but if we are to be prepared to capture a good percentage of the market when the revival takes place, we have to start preparation now. So that is the relevance of our planning and preparation at this point of time.

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