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Commercial
Report No. 5 of 2011 – Performance Audit of Management of Vessels (The Shipping Corporation of India Limited)
Overview
The Shipping Corporation of India Limited (Company), a Navratna PSU under the Ministry of Shipping, GOI, is the country's largest shipping Company, and owns around one third of the Gross Tonnage of Indian fleet. The fleet strength of the Company came down from 83 in 2005-06 to 76 in 2009-10 and the tonnage capacity remained almost static at around 50 lakh tonnes.
The turnover of the Company also remained almost static while the profits declined sharply from RS 1042 crore to RS 377 crore over the years 2005-06 to 2009-10. The share of Indian ships in the carriage of country's overseas trade had gradually declined from 14 per cent in 2005-06 to 8 per cent in 2008-09, though the country's overseas trade had increased by 34 per cent in the corresponding period. Non-availability of required tonnage was one of the reasons for decline in share of Indian trade.
Though there was appreciation of the direct and indirect taxation problems being faced by the Indian Shipping Industry from all the stakeholders, the Government is yet to resolve the vital concerns of the shipping industry. The Government policy initiatives like tonnage taxation introduced in April 2004 were not adequate to create level playing field for the Indian shipping lines over their counterparts carrying country's cargo.