When Parliament passed the Indian Ports Bill, 2025, it signalled not just a legal update but the logical conclusion of a decade-long transformation in India’s maritime sector. By replacing the colonial-era Indian Ports Act of 1908, the Bill creates a framework suited to today’s realities. It gives statutory backing to the Maritime State Development Council and the State Maritime Boards, ensures mechanisms for dispute resolution, and aligns India with global maritime conventions. In short, it builds the institutional scaffolding for the future of India’s ports and waterways, ensuring that the progress made in the past decade will not be left to chance.
The Bill did not emerge in isolation. It is the culmination of a larger vision pursued consistently by the Modi government to make India a global maritime leader. When the government came to power in 2014, India’s ports and waterways were sectors long ignored, marked by inefficiency, underinvestment, and outdated infrastructure. Today, after a series of reforms and flagship programmes, they stand as engines of growth and symbols of ambition. The Ports Bill gives permanence to this change and provides direction for what is to come.
One of the most striking indicators of this shift is the transformation of inland waterways. For decades, India had only five declared National Waterways, and cargo transport on rivers was negligible. This changed with the National Waterways Act of 2016, which expanded the number to 111. As a result, freight movement on waterways has risen by over 8 times in the past eleven years, going from a meagre 18 MMT in 2014 to a whopping 145.5 MMT in 2025. This has brought a forgotten and cheaper mode of transport back to the forefront of India’s multi-modal connectivity.
Equally transformative has been the Sagarmala programme, the government’s flagship initiative to harness the potential of India’s long coastline and extensive waterways. Sagarmala has gone far beyond being a policy slogan, it has become the backbone of India’s Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047. With hundreds of projects worth several lakh crores identified and a significant portion already completed, the programme has modernised ports, boosted coastal shipping, and unlocked investment opportunities in port-led industrialisation. The rise of nine Indian ports into the world’s top 100 rankings, and Visakhapatnam Port’s entry into the global top 20, are strong markers of this shift. What once lagged is now competitive on the world stage.
Major ports across the country tell the same story. Gujarat’s Deendayal Port and Odisha’s Paradip Port have both crossed the 150 million metric tonne mark in cargo handling, a record-breaking feat. Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra has ranked among the world’s busiest container hubs, while new facilities like Kerala’s Vizhinjam International Deepwater Port have given India its first transshipment hub, built to global standards. In Tamil Nadu, Thoothukudi Port has even pioneered the production and handling of green hydrogen and ammonia, aligning maritime infrastructure with the government’s broader green energy goals.
The focus has not stopped at ports alone. Recognising that a truly self-reliant maritime sector requires indigenous capability, the Modi government has invested heavily in shipbuilding and repair. A revamped financial assistance policy with an investment of over ₹18,000 crore and plans for new shipbuilding clusters drawing investments of over ₹75,000 crore aim to dramatically increase India’s share of indigenously built vessels. The establishment of facilities such as the International Ship Repair Facility in Cochin is already boosting capacity. The targets set are ambitious, to make India as one of the top ten shipbuilding nations by 2030 and among the top five by 2047, but the groundwork is being laid with intent and scale.
The holistic impact of these initiatives is significant. Logistics costs, which have long been a drag on Indian competitiveness, are projected to reduce by around ₹40,000 crore annually, exports are expected to be boosted by over $110 billion, and jobs to be created for over a crore people, once the Sagarmala programme is fully completed. Ports, once neglected as mere transit points, are being repositioned as anchors of economic growth and hubs of industrialisation.
The Indian Ports Bill, therefore, is more than just a piece of legislation. It is the institutional seal on a revolution already in motion. By modernising the legal framework and providing statutory recognition to the bodies that have been central to reform, it ensures that progress will be sustained and future-ready. It reflects a government thinking not just about immediate gains but about the long-term trajectory of India’s rise as a maritime power.
As India moves towards its Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, the progress of the past eleven years provides both a foundation and a springboard. The country’s ports are stronger, its waterways more active, and its shipbuilding capacity more ambitious than ever before. What was once a neglected sector has become a symbol of India’s potential to lead, not follow, in global trade and connectivity.
