Investments flow into Indian ports after tariff deregulation

[NEW DELHI] India has secured a record 207 billion rupees (S$4.3 billion) of investment in port projects after it deregulated tariffs.

The nation has awarded bids for 30 ports in the year ending March 31, Shipping Secretary Vishwapati Trivedi said in an interview. The value is more than three times greater than projects awarded in fiscal 2013, he said. The projects will add 217.6 million tonnes of annual cargo-handling capacity, according to the Ministry of Shipping.

The bids will ease congestion at Indian ports where the average turnaround time for ships was about three days in 2013, compared with about one day in Singapore and Shanghai, according to a report by Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers Ltd.