Container Manufacturing Promotion Scheme (CMPS): Cabinet Approves ₹10,000 Crore Outlay

The Union Cabinet, under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, has approved the Container Manufacturing Promotion Scheme (CMPS), which has an allocation of ₹10,000 crore till fiscal year 2039-40. Launched in the Union Budget of 2026-27, the CMPS seeks to create a globally competitive container manufacturing cluster in India. It seeks to enhance maritime and logistics supply chain efficiency, reduce reliance on foreign sources, and offers assistance for setting up manufacturing units, expansion of existing plants, operational costs, and testing and certification facilities.

What Is CMPS?

CMPS is an initiative by the government that aims to increase the local production of shipping containers and help Indian manufacturers compete well in their overseas markets.

Shipping containers form an essential part of international trade as they allow goods to be transferred and transported by ships, trucks, and trains. Increasing the domestic capacity for manufacturing containers enables a decrease of reliance on imports and strengthens logistics systems.

The scheme will be available for both greenfield projects and brownfield expansions of existing plants.

The scheme was launched with the Union Budget 2026-27 and has been approved by the Cabinet with a budget of ₹10,000 crore until the fiscal year 2038-39.

Components of the CMPS Scheme

The scheme contains three main components of assistance: interest subvention assistance, operational expenditure assistance, and testing and certification assistance.

Components	Funding	Prominent Features
Interest Subvention Assistance (ISA)	₹859 crores	Subvention of annual interest at 3% per annum for eligible term loans for setting up new and expanding existing facilities
Operational Expenditure Assistance (OEA)	₹8,891 crores	Aid towards financial expenditure for eligible containers meeting international shipping standards manufactured by eligible manufacturers
Testing and certification assistance	₹150 crores	Aid towards common testing and certification facilities, including dynamic longitudinal impact testing
Total	₹9,900 crores	Funding for all three components mentioned above

Aims and Expected Benefits of the Scheme

The government expects that the scheme will result in various long-term benefits.

Indicator	Anticipated result
Total funds provided for the scheme	₹10,000 crore
Implementation period By	FY 2039-40
Annual manufacturing capacity	Up to 7.5 lakh TEUs
Capacity increase	Tenfold approximately
Direct job creation	About 3,000 jobs
Creation of indirect jobs	More than 50,000 jobs
Strategic purpose	To reduce import dependency and improve supply chain resilience.

The goal of the scheme is to make India a competitive production centre, also making it one of the world’s major shipping container suppliers.

The scheme will also stimulate the growth of corresponding industries, i.e. producers of corner castings, specialised steel, wood frames, and paints.

What is TEU?

TEU means Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit. It is the standard unit that measures the handling capacity of containers in maritime logistics.

The capacity of one TEU is that of a standard 20 feet shipping container.
A standard 40-foot container is measured as two TEUs.
TEU is the unit which is used by ports and logistics firms to measure the capacity and handling of the containers.

The target of 7.5 lakh TEUs is the production capacity of containers per year in this standard unit. It must not be mistaken for the capacity of the port and cargo throughput.