India is in a dilemma over cabotage laws

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Hello, folks. You're tuned into Finshots Daily. In today's episode, we talk about cabotage and why India is in a dilemma over the relaxations it introduced to its cabotage rules. A quick side note before we begin, we're hosting a free two-day insurance masterclass that helps you build real financial security by understanding both health and life insurance the right way. Now, you can save your spot by heading to the link in the description and registering yourself. By the way, it's completely free, and you can find the link in the description. All right, let's get on to today's story. Today is April twenty-first. This date may or may not mean much to you, but it does for India's shipping industry because from today, the government was actually supposed to scrap a few exceptions it introduced in twenty eighteen that partially eased cabotage rules to boost coastal shipping. Now, we know that line sounds a bit confusing, so let's slow down and first understand what cabotage rules really are. Cabotage simply refers to a foreign shipping or transport operator carrying goods or passengers between two ports or places within the same country. For instance, Blue Whale Shipping Incorporation, a foreign transporter moving cargo between Mumbai and Chennai. Now, that's cabotage. But India's rules are quite clear here. Under the Merchant Shipping Act, only Indian ships are allowed to engage in coastal trade. Foreign ships can step in only if Indian ships aren't available or if they've been granted a specific exception