India has eased norms for the import of ships, the government announced last week. Import of ships by open general license (OGL) under a bareboat charter-cum-demise method, which is similar to hire-purchase, will not need a technical clearance by the government, but will need an evaluation of the import price, officials said. "The price reasonableness (evaluation) and interest margin on rental payments will be verified by ICICI," a government spokesperson said, referring to bareboat charters. ICICI is one of India's leading finance firms. "However, the price reasonableness will be required only if the value of the imported vessel on CIF (cost, insurance and freight) basis is more than 10 million rupees," he added.