Infrastructure status granted to shipbuilding industry

The central government has granted infrastructure status to the shipbuilding industry. This is expected to reduce borrowing costs and will enable shipyards and domestic manufacturers to get long-term loans for 20-25 years, as well as to access overseas loans. The industry’s demand for infrastructure status has been pending for over a decade. The status will also give an impetus to the Make in India initiative and is expected to help the shipbuilding industry raise its share in the global market to 5 per cent by 2020 from less than 1 per cent at present.