India races to challenge China’s shipbuilding supremacy

India has just placed one of its biggest industrial bets in decades as the government’s new US$8 billion maritime stimulus package aims to transform the country from a shipbuilding afterthought into a global powerhouse, targeting the world’s top ten by 2030 and the top five by 2047.

To understand why this matters, consider that India currently ranks 16th globally with barely 0.1 million gross tonnes of shipbuilding capacity roughly equivalent to what South Korea’s largest yard produces in a few months.