FROM MILK TO METAL :
KURIAN'S GHOST WALKS THE ALANG SHORE
hemenparekh.in | June 2026
[ What Just Happened ]
India's Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, at the 37th Foundation Day celebrations of JNPA on May 29, 2026, unveiled a Unified Ship Recycling Portal as part of the government's ₹70,000-crore maritime development package. Press Information Bureau
Under the scheme, ship owners recycling vessels at Hong Kong Convention-compliant Indian yards can receive a credit note equivalent to 40 per cent of the vessel's scrap value, redeemable against new shipbuilding projects in India. Press Information Bureau
India has since issued its first Ship Recycling Credit Note to Bella Shipping India Pvt Ltd, following the environmentally compliant recycling of a Capesize bulk carrier — marking the operational launch of a scheme designed to link ship recycling with domestic shipbuilding. Shippinginbox
The credit note system forms an integral part of the ₹69,725 crore maritime development package approved by the Union Cabinet on September 24, 2025, aimed at revitalising India's shipbuilding and recycling industries. Under the policy, when a ship is dismantled in India, the ship owner receives a credit note worth up to 40% of the ship's scrap value — redeemable when building a new ship in an Indian yard, or, with a recent amendment, sold to another party, with a three-year validity period. Shippinginbox
[ What I Had Suggested — Earlier ]
My blog post on Verghese Kurian ( myblogepage.blogspot.com/search?q=Verghese+kurian ) drew a pointed analogy:
What Kurian did for milk — he did for the primary producer.
Before Amul, the milk farmer produced the raw material, sold it cheap to middlemen (Polson Dairy), and saw none of the value that was created downstream — in processing, branding, distribution, and profit.
Kurian flipped that equation. He made the farmer the owner of the cooperative — the very entity that processed, branded and sold the milk. Value that had leaked downstream was now retained within the producing community.
I asked: why can't we do this at Alang?
Alang's ship recyclers — the yard workers, the small operators — are today's version of Kurian's milk farmers. They provide the raw material (dismantled steel, salvaged equipment), but the bulk of the value — as re-rolled steel, as commodity inputs to construction and manufacturing — gets captured by downstream steel mills and traders. The Alang worker sees daily wages. The steel mill sees margin.
My suggestion: an Alang Cooperative on the Amul model — where recycling yards collectively own downstream processing, or receive a structured value-share in the steel they produce, rather than merely a scrap-price.
[ The Commonality — Striking and Undeniable ]
The government's Credit Note scheme and my Kurian-inspired cooperative suggestion share one foundational idea:
Value created at the point of dismantling must not all leak downstream. Some of it must flow back — to incentivise, to retain, to reinvest.
Kurian achieved this through ownership — the farmer owned the co-op that sold the milk.
The Credit Note achieves this through financial instrument — the ship owner who demolishes retains a claim (40% of scrap value) on the next cycle of creation (new ship construction).
Both are, at their core, circular value architectures — ensuring that the act of ending (a cow's milk, a ship's life) seeds the act of beginning (the next product, the next vessel).
[ Where the Government Has Gone Further ]
The Credit Note system adds a dimension I had not fully articulated: it links demolition to construction — not just redistributes value horizontally within recycling, but creates a forward chain:
Recycle here → get credit → build here → recycle here again.
Industry experts believe the scheme could play an important role in supporting India's ambitions to develop a stronger domestic shipbuilding industry. By linking recycling incentives to new vessel construction, the government aims to retain more value within the maritime sector and stimulate investment in local shipyards. The measure also supports the country's "Make in India" initiative and broader goals of enhancing maritime self-reliance. Shippinginbox
Kurian would have recognised this instantly. Operation Flood was not just about cooperatives — it was about building the full chain: procurement → processing → branding → marketing → reinvestment. He never allowed value to leak at any node.
The Credit Note does the same for maritime India.
[ Where My Suggestion Goes Further Still ]
The Credit Note currently flows to the ship owner — the large corporate entity that decides where to scrap its vessel.
My Kurian-inspired suggestion was aimed one level lower: the yard operators and workers at Alang, who account for nearly 98 per cent of India's ship recycling volume and a third of global volume, but who remain piece-rate wage earners — not beneficiaries of any value-share instrument. Al Jazeera
I would urge the Ministry to consider:
Amendment to the Credit Note Scheme: A portion of the 40% credit note — say, 5–10% — to be mandatorily deposited into an Alang Workers' Cooperative Fund, managed on the Amul model, invested in worker housing, health, skills upgrading, and ultimately, in cooperative ownership of secondary processing facilities at Alang itself.
Call it the Kurian Clause.
[ The Bigger Picture ]
India has always been good at producing raw materials and exporting value to others.
Kurian broke that pattern for milk. Now — partially — the Credit Note breaks it for ships.
The next step is to break it for people — the 25,000+ workers of Alang — who are still, half a century after Kurian showed us the way, selling their labour cheap while others capture the margin.
When that happens, we will have truly honoured Verghese Kurian's legacy — not with a statue, but with a structure.
Prior Blog Reference:
http://myblogepage.blogspot.com/search?q=Verghese+kurian
News Trigger:
Hindu BusinessLine — Credit Note Buoys Up Ship Recyclers (June 2026)
With regards,
Hemen Parekh | hemenparekh.in | Mumbai | June 2026
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