Employment of Indian seafarers on Indian and foreign ships witnessed a growth bringing a good news amid the job crisis being witnessed in the country. Last year, people recruited in Merchant Navy from India increased showing how the Indian skills are in demand globally. Various designations where Indians are joining the industry include nautical officers, nautical ratings and engineers.

A senior shipping ministry official on condition of anonymity attributed this growth to several reforms and the revised training curriculum introduced by India in 2016. He said, “To ensure increase in the supply of Indian marine personnel, a 15-year-old ban on setting up of new training institutes and increasing the capacity of the existing training institutes was lifted with certain conditions. We also prepared an e-learning module and provided it free of cost to all Indian seafarers to allow them to upgrade their knowledge and skills before appearing for the examination.” He added that shipping minister Nitin Gadkari took several policy decisions to ensure that all road blocks are removed.