Government Initiatives for India’s Port Sector

The Government of India has implemented several initiatives to enhance the country’s port sector, aiming to increase efficiency, reduce turnaround time, and boost the maritime economy. Here are some key government initiatives for India’s port sector:

1. Sagarmala Project: Launched to promote port-led direct and indirect development and to provide infrastructure to transport goods to and from ports quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively. The initiative includes modernizing existing ports, developing new ports, enhancing port connectivity, and coastal community development.
2. Bharatmala Pariyojana: This program aims to improve road connectivity across the country, including port connectivity projects. Enhancing the roads leading to major ports is a crucial part of this initiative to facilitate smoother cargo movement.
3. Make in India: While not exclusively for the port sector, the Make in India initiative has a significant impact on maritime trade. Improving port infrastructure and efficiency is crucial for boosting manufacturing and exports, aligning with the Make in India goals.
4. Port Modernization and New Port Development: Efforts are underway to modernize existing ports and develop new ones with state-of-the-art technology to handle larger ships and increase cargo handling capacity.
5. Ease of Doing Business: Simplifying procedures, digitizing processes, and reducing paperwork for cargo clearance to improve the ease of doing business at Indian ports.
6. Direct Port Delivery (DPD) and Direct Port Entry (DPE): Initiatives aimed at reducing congestion, lowering costs, and decreasing turnaround time for cargo at ports by allowing importers and exporters direct access to the port premises.
7. Maritime India Vision 2030: A comprehensive plan to enhance the maritime sector, including doubling the port capacity, promoting coastal shipping, developing inland waterways, and boosting cruise tourism in India.
8. Coastal Berth Scheme: Part of the Sagarmala programme, this scheme aims to promote coastal shipping and reduce the logistics cost for transporting domestic cargo through the development of infrastructure at coastal ports.
9. Green Port Initiative: Focuses on environmental sustainability by adopting renewable energy sources, ensuring clean water and air, and implementing eco-friendly technologies at ports.

Major Ports in India: The Republic of India has a total of 13 major ports, of which 12 ports are Government-owned and 1 is private. The country has 7517 kilometres of coastline and its major ports handled 795 million tonnes of cargo in FY23.

In this article, we are going to discuss the major ports in India in detail.