India has 12 major ports administered by the Central Government, and 205 notified non-major ports along its 7,517 km coastline. India’s infrastructure sector, particularly the maritime sector, is expected to grow significantly with increase in international and domestic trade volumes.

About 95% of India's external trade by volume is handled by maritime transport and hence, there is a continuous need to develop and modernize India's ports and port related infrastructure. The improvement in port infrastructure will not only assist in growth of manufacturing activity in the country, but also help in realizing goals of 'Make in India' initiative.

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW), Government of India (GoI) has planned to increase overall port handling capacity to over 3,300 Million Tonnes per Annum (MTPA) by 2025, to cater the growing port traffic that is projected to reach 2,500 MTPA for the same period. A major part of the targeted port handling capacity of 3,300 MTPA will come from new ports. The three key reasons for focus of government on development of new ports are as follows:

• Capacity Saturation: Major ports such as Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) and Paradip Port are saturated with traffic and have limited scope for capacity expansion. Thus, there is a need to develop new ports in the vicinity to cater to the increased traffic.
• Opportunity for New Ports: There are specific stretches along the coastline without an operational port. In the absence of ports at such locations, cargo is forced to travel longer distances to use alternate ports. As this adds to both the cost and time required for cargo handling, new ports at these locations can significantly optimize cargo movement.
• Strategic Locations for Port Activity: India’s southern tip is optimally located as it falls on the East-West trade route. As most of trans-shipment cargo from India is dependent on ports of Colombo and Singapore, there exists a potential for development of an international trans-shipment hub at the southern tip.

Key investible projects for port modernization and new port development include:

• Modernization of 12 existing major ports: MoS has developed port master plans for existing major ports to undertake future expansion and modernization in port design. Port master plans include 92 port capacity expansion projects worth INR 58,884 Crore, identified for implementation over next 20 years which are expected to add 712 MTPA to the capacity of major ports.
• Project Unnati: Project Unnati was launched in 2014 as key port transformation project. It includes global benchmarks to improve efficiency and productivity related Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the existing 12 major ports. Under the project, 116 initiatives have been identified across 12 major ports to unlock over 100 MTPA capacity through efficiency improvement. More than 93 initiatives have been successfully implemented to unlock over 80 MTPA capacity.
• New Port Development: Under the Sagarmala initiative, the government plans to develop six new ports across five coastal states of India. It includes 189 proposed projects with an estimated cost of INR 1.55 Lakh Crore, out of which 42 projects worth around INR 26,600 Crore are under implementation. To fill the demand gap, three new major ports have been identified based on the cargo flow for key commodities and the projected traffic. It includes development of proposed greenfield ports at:
  • Vadhavan (Maharashtra)
  • Paradip Outer Harbour (Odisha)
  • VOC Outer Harbour (Tamil Nadu)

India’s integration into global value chains require a well-established port infrastructure, that entails developing state-of-the-art new ports as well as modernizing existing ports and terminals including their digitization. GoI aims at implementation of world class digital infrastructure at the existing and upcoming ports which include full mechanisation of cargo handling and movement at ports