Govt to do away with licensing need for local entities hiring foreign flag ships

Indian operators will no longer need to acquire a license from Indian maritime regulatory authorities for chartering foreign flag ships, as long as they don’t enter Indian waters during the charter period. The representation was made by the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) to ease the local shipping law. IFSCA is currently focused more on offering sops to entice ship operators to the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), a tax haven. The easing of licensing requirements will be applicable to GIFT City entities as well as fleet owners operating from the Domestic Tariff Area (DTA). Section 406 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 mandates that Indian ships and chartered (foreign) ships have to secure a license from the Directorate General of Shipping (DG Shipping) to operate.