Shipping personnel set sail to tax havens

MUMBAI: Tax disparities with peers working in foreign ships have resulted in a human resources disaster in the Indian shipping industry, which is already reeling under an acute shortage of personnel.  

There is a shortage of around 700 senior officials in the country, but the number of Indians working on foreign ships is double that of working on the Indian ships.

And all this is despite the country having adequate training facilities. Maritime training was privatised ten years back. Currently there are four government and thirteen private institutes.

“The taxation disparity has actually made us subsidize the training cost of our foreign competitors,” S Hajara, chairman and managing director, The Shipping Corporation of India, said on the sidelines of the release of annual review by Indian Ship Owner’s Association (INSA) .

Indian nationals working on the Indian ships come under 30% income tax bracket, regardless of the location of the work, which could be any country as ships move all over the world.

However, Indians working on foreign ships are exempted from this tax.