The Centre aims to make India a global maritime superpower by 2047, aided by two “grand visions” of the Modi government - The Maritime India Vision 2030 and the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, said Union Minister of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal.
Sonowal, speaking at THE WEEK Maritime Conclave 2025 in Kochi, said the plan under the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047 was to scale up investment in the sector to Rs 80 lakh crore. “Millions of jobs would be generated as a result of this” the minister said, adding that the previous UPA governments lacked vision for the development of the sector.
He said that the government introduced five pieces of legislation to alter the maritime landscape of the nation and to establish a strong, business and environmental-friendly and globally-aligned legislative framework.
Financial reforms
The Union Minister also highlighted the financial reforms undertaken by the government, stating how this year’s Union Budget provided a strong impetus for the sector. “Never in the history of the Union Budget has so much support been given to the Maritime Sector. The Maritime Development Fund with a corpus of Rs. 25,000, the new Ship Building Financial Assistance Policy, capability and capacity development in the shipping sector, extension of Tonnage Tax scheme to inland vessels, extension of Basic Customs Duty exemption on input material for ship building and ship breaking, conferring infrastructure status to large ships, facilitation of ship-building clusters could propel our Maritime Sector to new heights,” the minister said.
Matter of pride
Sonowal also mentioned the flagship Sagarmala programme devised in 2015 for the comprehensive development of ports, coastal, and inland waterways. “Currently, there are about 840 projects worth an investment of around Rs 5.8 lakh crore for implementation under the Sagarmala Programme of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways by 2035,” he said. The minister added that the work for building the largest port of the nation, Vadhvan Port, was progressing smoothly. "Once completed, this Rs. 76,000 crore port project and new township adjoining the port will have the capacity to generate 12 lakh new employment opportunities," he said.
The minister claimed that Indian Port’s "Turn Around Time" of 0.9 days was better than that of advanced maritime nations such as the USA, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Singapore, and many others. He said nine of India’s ports rank in the top 100 ports of the world.
Green mission
Stating that India offers an unmatched combination of strategic location, robust policies, skilled manpower, and growing demand, the minister mentioned the various green initiatives of the government. “We initiated various reforms to ensure that a large chunk of India’s cargo moves by inland and coastal waterways, a green mode of transport,” Sonowal said, adding that over the last decade, the cargo movement by inland waterways has increased by over seven times and by over 150% in coastal waterways.
He also credited the government for creating ‘Harit Sagar’ guidelines to promote green shipping, the commissioning of the 1 MW module of the Green Hydrogen Plant by Deendayal Upadhyay Port, Kandla. “VoC Port, Tuticorin has also started production of Green Hydrogen, and a Green Methanol Bunkering and Refuelling Facility is being built,” he said.
The Union Minister also urged all maritime stakeholders to focus on the global challenges , which included geopolitical uncertainties concerning global supply chain management, IMO decarbonisation and green shipping targets, technological disruptions such as cybersecurity challenges to Port IT systems, dependence on foreign shipping & financing, global seafarer welfare issues, blue economy, and sustainability pressures.