India Approves $1 Billion Scheme to Manufacture Containers

On October 28, 2026, India's Union Cabinet approved the Container Manufacturing Promotion Scheme (CMPS), a program aimed at expanding domestic manufacturing of shipping containers and reducing reliance on imports. According to Marine Insight, the scheme has a total budget of Rs 10,000 crore over 13 years, through fiscal year 2039-40; Splash 247 expresses this same amount as INR100bn (100 billion rupees), equivalent to about $1.05 billion, while Journal of Commerce describes it as a plan of around $1 billion in government subsidies.

The program seeks to raise India's annual container manufacturing capacity from approximately 70,000 TEU currently to 750,000 TEU, according to Splash 247, a figure Marine Insight confirms by citing Business Standard as an increase of around ten times to 7.5 lakh TEU. With this, India aims to erode China's dominance, which according to Splash 247 accounts for more than 95% of global dry cargo container production and virtually the entire refrigerated container market.

According to Splash 247, the scheme includes INR88.91bn in financial assistance for containers manufactured under international standards and INR8.59bn in support for financing new factories and expanding existing ones, with a 3% annual interest subsidy on qualifying loans. Marine Insight details these same allocations in Indian rupees as Rs 8,891 crore in Operating Expenditure Assistance and Rs 859 crore in interest subvention, plus Rs 150 crore for common testing facilities such as dynamic longitudinal impact testing. Splash 247 adds that new factories will need a minimum annual capacity of 100,000 TEU, that existing manufacturers will need to expand their capacity by at least 25,000 TEU to access financing, and that the required domestic content will progressively increase from 70% to 90%.

Marine Insight notes that, according to a Press Information Bureau statement, the Government estimates the scheme could generate close to 3,000 direct jobs and more than 50,000 indirect jobs in container manufacturing and related industries such as specialized steel, timber flooring, corner castings, and paints. The outlet also recalls that India has already manufactured its first export-import container for A.P. Moller-Maersk under ISO standards and the International Convention for Safe Containers (CSC), and that Maersk ordered 1,000 Made-in-India containers from DCM Shriram Group.

The CMPS, previously known as the Container Manufacturing Assistance Scheme (CMAS), was announced in the 2026-27 Union Budget, and Marine Insight recalls that Minister Sarbananda Sonowal described it at the time as a step toward maritime self-sufficiency and reduced import dependence. Splash 247 notes that the initiative complements India's plans to create Bharat Container Shipping Line, a state-owned carrier under development driven by Shipping Corporation of India, CONCOR, and other government-controlled maritime bodies. Journal of Commerce frames the announcement within India's push to become a counterweight to China's historical dominance in ocean container manufacturing, amid broader trade diversification within Asia.