In a bid to facilitate more private investment into the country’s ports, India is looking to set up a new department in order to more effectively attract private funds, according to JOC.com.
Shri Pon. Radhakrishnan, Minister of State for Shipping in India, said: “Development and improvement of capacity of cargo handling at major ports is a continuous process. Various activities such as augmentation of berths/terminals, mechanisation of berths, installation of state-of-the-art equipment, capital dredging, improving rail-road connectivity to ports etc. are regularly carried out to meet the demand of the market and improve the capacity of port.”
Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister for India recently argued that if India doesn't switch to privatisation, its major ports could begin to lose out to competition of minor ports.
Enhancing Capacity of Ports for Cargo Handling https://t.co/fOXkNNJCQ6
— PIB India (@PIB_India) May 2, 2016
In tandem with this commercial plan is India’s Sagarmala project which will add a further US$60 billion worth of investment into the country’s ports, and will include 150 projects.
Together with this announcement was the Indian government’s own plan to build eight new major ports, with $10.5 billion worth of investment being allocated to the country’s 12 major ports in the next five years, under the Sagarmala intiative.
#Infographic via @ShippingLatest shows the scale of Indian trade #economy pic.twitter.com/MC4rak6WTz
— Port Technology Int (@PortTechnology) April 14, 2016
Watch a video which explains India’s Sagarmala project
Many operators are seeing growth potential in the country, with DP World being a recent example, after it announced it would be investing $1 billion into the country’s port infrastructure.
