Overseas shipping has an extremely important role to play in India’s international trade. The country has the largest merchant shipping fleet among developing countries and ranks 15^th in the world in shipping tonnage. The fleet strength at the end of Dec 1996 was 484 vessels of 7.05 Gross Registered Tonnage.

A new shipping policy was initiated in 1990-91 to promote the development of Indian shipping. Since then several policy reforms have been made inn conformity with the liberalization of the economy, including: automatic approval for the acquisition of ships, permission to retain sale proceeds for re-investment, relaxation of Cabotage Laws for container ships and lash barges, and decontrol of freight and passenger fares to promote coastal shipping

Several incentives for investors introduced are easing of controls on the acquisition and sale of vessels, foreign investment is permitted, and facilities at part with 100% Export Oriented Units (EOUs) are available for the ship repair industry.

Foreign investment is permitted and facilities at part with 100% Export Oriented Units (EOUs) are available for the ship repair industry.