The composite boat building industry hardly finds any push from the Centre’s Make in India initiative, especially Indian boat builders when it comes to procurement of boats by government agencies.

Indian boat builders have been successfully designing and delivering boats to various Defence departments. However, the present procurement pattern of the government is unfriendly to the trade and virtually killing the industry, S Jeevan, Secretary, Composite Boat Builders Association of Kerala (Cobbak) said.

Currency fluctuation

According to him, foreign suppliers have the advantage of quoting in foreign currency and of receiving payments in the same currency. Indian boat builders take a hit on account of the currency fluctuation, he said, and asked the government to issue floating rates for rupee fluctuation.

These issues were highlighted by the Association in a representation to the Defence Minister, especially with regard to the procurement conditions laid down in the tenders for boats floated by defence departments and para military forces saying “it gives unfair advantage to foreign suppliers”.

For the domestic industry to be competitive, the association suggested several steps which included stage-wise payments for the completed work without bank guarantee for approved yards, reserving boat building to boat yards and restriction on large shipyards to build only large ships.

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