SCI To Help India Achieve Ambition Of Becoming Top Shipping Nation: Sonowal

India is no longer content to only own ships but is determined to build them domestically, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said, stressing that the country's largest commercial shipping company SCI will help India achieve its ambition of becoming a top shipping nation.

The shipping minister also said the company was expecting its Profit After Tax (PAT) to surpass Rs 2,000 crore this fiscal from 1,352.92 crore on a standalone basis in the financial year ended March 2026.

Addressing the 65th anniversary celebrations of the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) at the Cruise Terminal at Mumbai Port on Friday evening, Sonowal also called on the Navratna PSU to take a leading role in India's drive toward self-reliant, globally competitive shipbuilding and maritime capacity.

Founded in 1961 as a liner shipping company with 19 vessels, SCI has grown into a diversified maritime enterprise operating 58 vessels totalling 5.26 million deadweight tonnage (DWT).

The company's operations now span crude and product tankers, bulk and container shipping, LPG and LNG carriers, offshore services, passenger and coastal transport, project cargo, ship management, and shipbuilding consultancy.

"SCI is one of the clearest examples of India building its own strength at sea. As India works to become a top shipbuilding nation under Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, SCI's fleet, its people and its partnerships will be central to that mission," Sonowal, who is the Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said in his chief guest address.

Highlighting the company's role in safeguarding India's energy and trade security, specifically its performance during the recent Strait of Hormuz crisis, he called on SCI to help advance the government's Viksit Bharat and Atmanirbhar Bharat goals, framing a stronger national fleet as central to India's ambition of becoming a top shipbuilding and ship-owning nation by 2047.

The company's growth over these decades shows what Indian enterprise can achieve when backed by national resolve, he said, adding that as SCI expands its fleet and deepens its partnerships, it strengthens not just one company, but India's entire shipbuilding ambition, and carries us forward, mile by mile, toward the goal of a Viksit Bharat.

SCI chairman and managing director BK Tyagi, in his address, outlined the company's plans for the years ahead, reaffirming its commitment to building a larger, modern and globally competitive fleet in support of the national push to expand India's shipping capacity and tonnage.

The company said it is undertaking a fleet augmentation program backed by the government's expanded policy and financing support for the maritime sector, with proposed joint ventures involving Indian Oil's public sector undertakings and the Bharat Container Shipping Line laying the groundwork for accelerated expansion toward the Maritime Amrit Kal Vision 2047 targets.