India’s oil PSUs spent $8bn on chartered ships in 5 years; amount could have funded tanker fleet: Minister

Mumbai: Indian public sector oil companies, including IOCL, BPCL and HPCL, have spent nearly $8 billion on chartering ships in the past five years — an amount that could have funded a new fleet of Indian-owned tankers, Union petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday.

“Today, only about 20% of India’s trade cargo is carried on India-flagged or India-owned vessels. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity to expand our ship ownership and manufacturing capacity,” Puri said while addressing delegates at the India Maritime Summit in Mumbai.