India aims to become a shipbuilding powerhouse, with the Cabinet of Prime Minister Narenda Modi signing off on a a package worth almost 700 billion rupees ($7.9 billion) Wednesday to help local shipyards compete with global shipbuilding giants in China, Japan and South Korea over the coming years.

The ambitious industrial push is part of a multipronged approach aimed at strengthening the South Asian nation’s shipbuilding capacity, improving long-term financing and promoting domestic shipyard development as India seeks to boost resilience and strategic self-reliance as China speeds ahead to become a global maritime power.

“We want to be able to build our own ships, flag them here ... We think this plan will not only be commercially sensible but also strategically,” T.K. Ramachandran, India’s port, shipping and waterways secretary, told reporters.