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India to add 100 merchant ships to its fleet in 5 years: Sarbananda Sonowal

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India to add 100 merchant ships to its fleet in 5 years: Sarbananda Sonowal

Home / Economy / News / India to add 100 merchant ships to its fleet in 5 years: Sarbananda Sonowal

India to add 100 merchant ships to its fleet in 5 years: Sarbananda Sonowal

India plans to add 100 vessels to its merchant fleet in five years, with reflagging, shipbuilding support and fiscal reforms aimed at strengthening the domestic shipping industry

Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said the government’s interventions are aimed at increasing Indian tonnage

Dhruvaksh Saha 2 min read Last Updated : Aug 26 2026 | 12:14 AM IST

India will add 100 vessels to its merchant ship fleet over the next five years, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said on Tuesday.

The government has been attempting to woo foreign shipowners to reflag their vessels under the Indian flag. Reflagging a vessel means changing the country where a ship is registered to ensure it sails under a new national flag.

It is considered important as the flag of the vessel controls the tonnage of the vessel and generates revenue from it. In September 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had cited India’s ₹6 trillion freight bill to foreign vessels to meet India’s trading needs.

Sonowal, while addressing the Sagar Samvad conference of the National Shipping Board (a statutory body advising the government on the shipping matters), said that the government’s interventions were aimed at increasing Indian tonnage.

K. Lines have reflagged their vessels to the Indian flag in the past. A slew of new such registrations are also in the pipeline, senior government officials said.


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