India is charting course for maritime dominance with 12-point push, says Minister Sonowal

Minister for ports, shipping, and waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, in an interview with Mint, outlined the country's plans to create a global maritime hub by 2047, driven by the "Make in India" initiative.

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The effort, which includes about a dozen national missions, aims to drastically reduce reliance on foreign vessels, stimulate domestic shipbuilding, and position India’s share in key segments among the top 10 globally by 2030.

Building the maritime ecosystem

The Centre’s plan focuses on twelve core areas, ranging from shipbuilding and ship recycling to technical management and maritime arbitration, with each receiving dedicated government support through specific missions.

These twelve areas identified for action include financing, insurance, ship ownership and leasing, chartering, shipbuilding, ship repair, ship recycling, flagging and registration, operations, technical management, staffing and crewing, and arbitration. Each area will be bolstered by policy frameworks, financing mechanisms, and incentive schemes aimed at strengthening the Make in India initiative, Sonowal explained.

“Currently, much of this activity happens overseas, with India holding less than 1% of the global market," the minister noted, emphasizing that the new missions aim to shift this dynamic.

He said the objective is to increase India's presence in these areas, boost job creation, and inject vitality into domestic maritime industries.

The linchpin of this strategy is the Shipbuilding Mission, which involves the creation of mega shipbuilding parks on both coasts. Teams have already visited South Korea and Japan, exploring opportunities for foreign investment. With several states offering land for the project, India is aiming to become a leading global shipbuilder. “We are thinking big, dreaming big," Sonowal said.

He noted that the shipbuilding programme would boost the presence of Indian-owned, Indian-flagged, and domestically produced vessels in the country’s trade network. “Currently, around 95% of India's trade relies on foreign vessels, with an annual outflow of $110 billion. The Make in India plan would change this completely," Sonowal told Mint.

Beyond shipbuilding, India is gearing up to launch a Ship Repair and Recycling Mission, integrating existing industrial clusters to attract both domestic and foreign investors.

To address the sector's need for long-term financing, Sonowal revealed that a Maritime Development Fund is in the works. This equity fund, with a corpus of around ₹25,000 crore, will be supported by contributions from the government, public sector undertakings, domestic and foreign financial institutions, multilateral agencies, pension funds, and other equity sources.

“The initiatives planned by the ministry aim to make India a global maritime hub and a developed nation by 2047. The direction is clear, and we are just taking follow-up action to clear all hurdles in the path of stated goal" Sonowal emphasized.

He added that two more missions are set to launch soon in line with this focused approach. The first, the Cruise India Mission, will enhance port infrastructure and build exclusive cruise terminals to accommodate large cruise ships. The mission's manufacturing aspect will focus on producing globally competitive cruise vessels.

The second mission will focus on ship repairs and recycling, with a policy framework to create a robust ecosystem that caters to domestic needs and also attracts ships from around the world for repairs. Key locations such as Kochi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and Vadinar (Gujarat) will be further developed to become major repair hubs, he said.

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Additionally, a Centre of Excellence in Shipbuilding and Repair will be established to foster innovation in these sectors. The ministry of ports, shipping, and waterways (MoPSW) is also working on setting up a Free Trade Depot at shipyards to provide customs exemptions on imported materials for vessel repairs.

Financing and arbitration

Sonowal highlighted that India is taking significant steps to strengthen its maritime arbitration framework, aiming to handle disputes domestically rather than sending them to global hubs like Dubai or Singapore.

“We have launched the Indian International Maritime Dispute Resolution Centre (IIMDRC)," he said. “This specialized platform will offer merit-based and industry-governed solutions to resolve maritime disputes efficiently, addressing the multi-modal, multi-contract, multi-jurisdictional, and multi-national nature of maritime transactions. IIMDRC positions India as a global hub for arbitration, aligning with the "Resolve in India" initiative."

Regarding ship insurance, the MoPSW is exploring the creation of a domestic protection and indemnity (P&I) entity, known as the India Club, to offer third-party maritime insurance for coastal shipping and inland waterways. The need for an India-focused P&I entity has been recognized to mitigate the country's exposure to international sanctions and pressures, where insurance coverage is denied to shipping lines operating between sanctioned countries.

Port infrastructure and trade corridors

As India strengthens its maritime insurance framework, the government is also moving ahead with major infrastructure projects to support long-term growth in the sector.

Sonowal highlighted the ambitious plans for mega ports across the country, including the recently approved ₹76,220 crore port at Vadhavan in Maharashtra, which will not only boost port capacity but also create as many as 1.2 million jobs.

He also mentioned a proposed mega port at Galathea Bay in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. This ₹44,000 crore project, to be developed under a public-private partnership model, aims to capture transhipment cargo currently handled outside India, with the first phase expected to be operational by 2029.

Also read | Mint Primer: What an ‘India Club’ means for the country’s shipping industry

The minister also highlighted progress on the proposed 4,800 km India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), which will link Indian ports with countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and eventually extend to Europe. Central to this initiative is the MAITRI platform, designed as the backbone of the Virtual Trade Corridor (VTC), which will facilitate secure and efficient sharing of trade data between countries.

MAITRI—short for Master Application for International Trade and Regulatory Interface—integrates multiple Indian operational portals with those of the UAE, streamlining cross-border trade processes.