In order to increase tonnage capacity of the Indian shipping industry, the government has taken a number of steps. These include: Providing Indian shipping industry cargo support through Right of First Refusal; reducing GST from 18 per cent to 5 per cent on bunker fuel used in Indian flag vessels; allowing carriage of coastal cargo from one Indian port to another Indian port via foreign ports in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh; removing licencing requirement for chartering of foreign registered ships by citizens of India, companies incorporated in India and Registered Societies to encourage coastal movement of agriculture and other commodities, fertiliser, exim transhipment containers and empty containers; bringing parity in the tax regime of Indian seafarers employed on Indian flag ships vis-à-vis those on foreign flag ships; allowing shipping enterprises based in India to acquire ships abroad and flag them in the country of their convenience; allowing use of imported containers for carrying of domestic cargo and allowing use of locally manufactured or domesticated containers conforming to the specifications from the International Standards Organization (ISO), for transportation of exim cargo.
