How India Plans To Boost Maritime Innovations With Sagarmala Startup Policy

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) on Monday (April 10) released the draft Sagarmala Innovation and Startup Policy for feedback from stakeholders concerned.

The draft startup policy envisages the creation of a conducive environment for the facilitation of innovation and startups in the burgeoning maritime sector. The new framework aims to nurture private enterprises and leverage new technologies developed by homegrown startups to scale the ecosystem. 

With an eye on driving sustainable growth and generating employment opportunities, the startup policy also entails cooperation and coordination between academic institutions, public  and the private sector to boost the maritime startup ecosystem. 

The new framework envisages the convergence of different schemes and programmes to ‘groom fresh ideas and approaches’ to address ecosystem bottlenecks and scale efficiency in areas such as operation, maintenance, and infrastructure development.

The draft identifies several key areas for startup participation

• Decarbonisation
• Optimisation of processes through data
• Maritime education
• Multi-modal transportation
• Manufacturing
• Maritime cybersecurity
• Smart communication
• Marine electronics

Apart from this, the new initiative will also distribute responsibilities and ‘benefits’ among various stakeholders, and foster upcoming young entrepreneurs with innovative ideas

“The startup India policy is the brainchild of PM Modi and this is the right step taken by MoPSW to create a strong ecosystem for fostering startups and innovation in the nation. This will surely promote innovation and entrepreneurship. Through this policy, MoPSW wants to enable startups to grow and prosper through innovations,” said Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal.

What’s In The Fineprint

Under the policy, the Ministry will offer grants and mentorship to startups to create minimum viable products (MVP) and commercialise their respective technologies. It will also create ‘Launch Pads’ at ports to enable these platforms to carry out trials and facilitate pilot projects

The policy also envisages the setting up of working spaces and the adoption of these startup-made products and solutions at the ports. The selection of these enterprises for these endowments will be carried out through a digital portal to supposedly ensure a transparent process

The regulatory support under the policy will also cover aspects such as tendering and subcontracting for startups, although it wasn’t clear whether this included government contracts as well. The government will also provide legal and accounting ‘backup’ to these emerging players for patent filing, company registration, annual filings and closures.

The ministry will also onboard venture capital (VC) firms for knowledge support and will also organise meetings with buyers as well as sellers to help these startups market their products. It will also guide startups and innovators with ‘promising ideas’ to register with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and receive the department’s recognition and avail of a slew of benefits under existing schemes

Maritime Innovation Hubs (MIHs) will also be set up under the policy to promote maritime startups. Under these MIHs, maritime-specific incubators and accelerators will be established with state-of-the-art facilities, enabling these startups to move from the ideation phase to full-scale deployment

These hubs will also be tasked with attracting investments for the onboarded maritime startups and developing a centralised repository to curate all relevant information for startups in one single place

It will also collaborate with international and other national stakeholders to facilitate access to private enterprises, researchers and investors to enable them to scale or set up shop in India through these emerging startups

These hubs will be overseen by an apex committee, which will provide overall guidance, monitor progress and offer support to the initiative. The panel will be led by Secretary MoPSW and see the participation of other senior bureaucrats such as the Chairman of the lnland Waterways Authority of India, Joint Secretaries of Shipping and Ports as well as two experts from other government arms such as Startup India, Directorate General of Shipping, and Indian Maritime University, among others

Overall, the policy also envisages the setting up of annual maritime startup awards to recognise innovative products and startups.

“MoPSW feels proud to share that over the span of 8 successful years of Sagarmala, (the) maritime sector has captured all the possible opportunities for the port-led development. Now, this policy will also create a field to establish long-term action plans, network, infrastructure, and other resources to build a robust maritime innovation ecosystem,” the ministry said in a statement

The move is part of the larger Sagarmala project, which aims to transform the country’s logistics sector by tapping into the potential of waterways and the coastline to boost exports through infrastructural investments.

First mooted in 2003, the Sagarmala project received government sanction in 2016 and sets aside billions of dollars to establish new ports, modernise existing ones and develop coastal economic zones to spur exports and imports, and boost the local logistics economy

With 12 major ports and 200 non-major ports along the country’s 7,500-km long coastline, the maritime sector, according to the government, accounts for 95% of the country’s trade volume

Despite this, the homegrown space continues to lag due to slower turnaround times, heavy capex requirements and a lack of multiple well-established players that could compete globally. 

With this, the government plans to handhold new players and reduce overall costs, which could then have a cascading effect on the overall logistics sector. This could help the Indian logistics industry scale further, which currently, dominated by both new-age tech startups and other private players, is estimated to reach a market size of $650.52 Bn by 2028.

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