Reviving Shipbuilding in India

A recent project involving Sanjeev Sanyal attempts to create a Gupta-era ship using a stitching technique. You will not believe how happy this made me! Let me tell you why.

India Growth Series

As we approach the 2024 elections, I want to set the stage for potential opportunities for growth in India. I hope it can add to what the Prime Minister and his team are putting together. I hope these posts can reach the entrepreneurs to take up opportunities in these sectors. - Rahul

India was a leading sea-faring nation. It is unsurprising that India was 25% of global GDP for much of history before 1500CE. Naturally, Indians had a long ship-building tradition as well. This glorious piece of history never received as much prominence as it should.

I recently had the opportunity to see Edwin Fox, a ship built in 1853 in Kolkata and one of the oldest surviving merchant ships.

The glorious tradition of shipbuilding is being revived.

The Stitched Ship project has been inspired by a painting of what seems to be a stitched ship at Ajanta, dated to the 5th century CE. It connects with many references to maritime activities. As Reshmi Dasgupta highlights, “Indus Valley/Saraswati civilisation seals with images of ships have been found. Terracotta seals with seagoing vessels have been found in Bangarh and Chandraketugarh in West Bengal. A later seal in Kharosthi-Brahmi script refers to a Tridesayatra or voyage to three places.”

The revival of the historical knowledge base related to shipping is crucial. Here is a video of Sanjeev Sanyal describing the project.

India needs to build competency in Shipbuilding

Shipbuilding is a critical cornerstone of economic development. If you look at the shifts in the Shipbuilding industry, you will see the print of global economic development.

Therefore, India needs to develop and expand its competency in shipbuilding. I had set out goals for Indian Shipbuilding and some ideas to achieve them in the 2019 ebook India Growth Many Big Ideas.

India also needs to expand and formalise Shipbreaking

India is a leader in the Shipbreaking Industry. However, the industry is not organised and there is use of unskilled and semi-skilled labour.

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