From railway expansion to shipbuilding reforms: Vaishnaw announces development projects worth Rs 94,000 crore

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved development projects worth Rs 94,000 crore that included railway projects, performance-linked incentive benefit for railway employees and major shipbuilding reforms. In a major move, the cabinet approved the infrastructure status for large ships.

Highlights of development projects announced by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw:

• Doubling of the Bakhtiyarpur–Rajgir–Tilaiya railway line section in Bihar at a total cost of Rs. 2,192 crore.
• Construction of 4-lane Sahebganj-Areraj-Bettiah section of the NH-139W in Bihar on Hybrid Annuity Mode with a total project length of 78.942 km worth Rs. 3,822.31 crore.
• Payment of Productivity Linked Bonus of 78 days for Rs.1865.68 crore to over 10.91 lakh railway employees
• Rs. 69,725 crore package approved to revitalize India’s shipbuilding & maritime sector with a comprehensive 4-pillar approach focused on shipbuilding, maritime financing & boosting domestic capacity.
• CSIR Scheme “Capacity Building and Human Resource Development” with a total outlay of Rs. 2277.397 crore for the period of the Fifteenth Finance Commission Cycle 2021-22 to 2025-26.
• Major expansion of postgraduate and undergraduate medical education capacity in the country, with Phase-III of CSS adding 5,000 PG seats and the extension of CSS creating 5,023 MBBS seats
• Large ships have been given infrastructure status, which helps in getting long term and low cost financing

Also read: Railway employees set to get Rs 1,866 cr Diwali gift from Modi & Co

Shipbuilding reforms in India:

Vaishnaw announced a comprehensive package of Rs.69,725 crore to revitalize India’s shipbuilding and maritime ecosystem. The package introduces a four-pillar approach designed to strengthen domestic capacity, improve long-term financing, promote greenfield and brownfield shipyard development, enhance technical capabilities and skilling, and implement legal, taxation, and policy reforms to create a robust maritime infrastructure.


Under this package, the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme (SBFAS) will be extended until 31 March 2036 with a total corpus of Rs.24,736 crore, aiming to incentivize ship building in India.

The reforms also include a Shipbreaking Credit Note with an allocation of Rs.4,001 crore. A National Shipbuilding Mission will also be established to oversee the implementation of all initiatives, Vaishnaw announced.

Read more: Cabinet approves Rs 69,725 crore package to transform India’s shipbuilding, maritime sector

The cabinet approved a corpus of Rs.25,000 crore to provide long-term financing for the sector, including a Maritime Investment Fund of Rs.20,000 crore with 49% participation from central government and Interest Incentivization Fund of Rs.5,000 crore.

The Cabinet Committee also approved the Shipbuilding Development Scheme (SbDS), with a budgetary outlay of Rs.19,989 crore. This move aims to expand domestic shipbuilding capacity to 4.5 million Gross Tonnage annually.

Productivity Linked Bonus for 78 days to railway employees

The Cabinet approved payment of Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) of 78 days for Rs.1865.68 crore to 10,91,146 railway employees.

The maximum payable amount of PLB equivalent to 78 days’ wages for each eligible railway employee is Rs.17,951/-. The above amount will be paid to various categories, of railway staff like Track maintainers, Loco Pilots, Train Managers (Guard), Station Masters, Supervisors, Technicians, Technician Helpers, Pointsman, Ministerial Staff and other Group ‘C’ staff.

Railway projects

The Cabinet approved the doubling of Bakhtiyarpur – Rajgir – Tilaiya single railway line section (104 km) in Bihar with total cost of around Rs. 2,192 crore. The project will cover four districts in the state of Bihar will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 104 Kms.

Also read: Cabinet okays four-lane Sahebganj-Areraj-Bettiah section NH-139W at Rs 3,822.31 cr in Bihar

This multi-tracking project will enhance connectivity to approx. 1,434 villages and about 13.46 lakh population and two Aspirational Districts (Gaya and Nawada).