The government of Tamil Nadu has signed two major investments in shipbuilding worth about Rs 30,000 crore in Thoothukudi district, which may generate around 55,000 jobs.
Two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were signed on Saturday. The investments include a Rs 15,000 crore shipyard to be developed by Cochin Shipyard, creating 10,000 jobs. The second project involves another Rs 15,000 crore shipyard by Mumbai-based Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, creating 45,000 jobs.
“We are really happy that the government of Tamil Nadu and the Union government have worked together to get Cochin Shipyard Limited to come into Tamil Nadu and I am hoping that we will get to work with more such shipyards and get more shipbuilding activities going in the state,” said state industries minister TRB Rajaa.
“For the last one and a half years, we have been trying to push this sector in a big way and now, we have secured these two historic projects,” he added. In August, a Rs 1,500 crore shipbuilding component manufacturing project by Chennai Radha Engineering Works (CREW), creating more than 1,400 jobs, was also finalised in Thoothukudi.
To fuel the blue economy further, the government is in the process of setting up a state public sector undertaking (PSU). This comes amid reports that the world’s largest shipbuilding company, HD Hyundai, and Cochin Shipyard were in talks to set up a unit in South India.
The Indian shipbuilding industry is likely to grow at an exponential rate from about $90 million now to $8.12 billion by 2033, according to a report by Finextra Research.
An industrial revival is expected in southern Tamil Nadu districts — including Thoothukudi, Dindigul, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Theni, Tirunelveli, and Virudhunagar — as the region has been seeing a surge in investments from foreign companies since the DMK government took charge in May 2021.
Of the total Rs 7.5 trillion worth of investments that the state has received in the past four years, about Rs 2.2 trillion came to these districts, creating more than one million jobs.
The Centre has also lined up schemes such as the Rs 25,000 crore Maritime Development Fund and an Rs 18,000 crore financial assistance policy to boost shipbuilding in India.