Ports, Shipping and Waterways
About 95 percent of India's trade by volume and about 70 percent by value moves by sea (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways). India has a 7,516.6 km coastline (mainland about 6,100 km; check MHA) and 12 operating major ports (a 13th, Vadhavan in Maharashtra, was approved in 2024), with about 200 non-major ports.
The 12 operating major ports (governed by the Major Port Authorities Act 2021)
| Coast | Ports (north to south) |
|---|---|
| West | Kandla (Deendayal), Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru (Nhava Sheva, Navi Mumbai), Mormugao (Goa), New Mangalore, Cochin (Kochi) |
| East | Tuticorin (V. O. Chidambaranar), Chennai, Kamarajar (Ennore), Visakhapatnam, Paradip, Kolkata (Syama Prasad Mookerjee, with Haldia dock) |
- Vadhavan (Maharashtra) is a new major port under development (2024). Vizhinjam (Kerala; opened for operations in 2025) is the deep-water transshipment hub.
- Mundra (Gujarat, Adani) is the largest private port, and the biggest by cargo handling.
Port facts
| Port | Notes |
|---|---|
| Kandla | Tidal port; developed after partition to replace Karachi; a free-trade zone |
| Mumbai | Natural, the largest natural harbour; oldest |
| JNPT | Largest container port in India among the major ports |
| Mormugao | Iron ore export |
| New Mangalore | Iron ore, coffee |
| Kochi | Natural harbour; Vallarpadam transshipment terminal |
| Tuticorin | Artificial deep-water, the second international gateway in the south |
| Chennai | Artificial harbour; the oldest on the east |
| Ennore | The first corporatised port |
| Visakhapatnam | Deepest landlocked harbour; iron ore exports |
| Paradip | Deep-water; iron ore and coal, Odisha |
| Kolkata-Haldia | River port on the Hooghly; silt problem; tidal bore |
Inland waterways
- National Waterways Act 2016 declared 111 national waterways.
- NW-1: Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly, from Haldia to Prayagraj (1,620 km); NW-2: Brahmaputra (Sadiya to Dhubri, 891 km); NW-3: West Coast Canal with Champakara and Udyogmandal canals (Kollam-Kottapuram, 205 km); NW-4: Kakinada-Puducherry canals with Godavari and Krishna; NW-5: East Coast canal with Brahmani and Mahanadi delta.
- Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), Noida (1986).
- Jal Marg Vikas Project on the Ganga with World Bank help; Varanasi, Sahibganj, Haldia terminals.
- Sagarmala (2015) for port-led development; Bharatmala.
- Shipping Corporation of India; Central Inland Water Transport Corporation.
- International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), Chabahar port (Iran, Indian-developed), IMEC (India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor), Kaladan Multimodal project with Myanmar (Sittwe).
Trade
- India's major export items: engineering goods, petroleum products, gems and jewellery, pharma, electronics, textiles, rice.
- Imports: crude oil, gold, electronics, coal, vegetable oils, machinery.
- Major trading partners: the USA, the UAE, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia (rank varies; check the Ministry of Commerce).
- Foreign Trade Policy, DGFT, WTO, FTAs: the CEPA with the UAE (2022), the ECTA with Australia (2022), the India-UK FTA (signed in 2025, check status).
- Balance of trade is negative (trade deficit).
Keep practising
Notes are only half the work. Test yourself with questions and discuss doubts with other aspirants.
Prepared for exam revision from NCERT, standard geography textbooks, the Census of India 2011, the India State of Forest Report, IMD, Ministry of Agriculture and other official sources. Maps are schematic teaching maps, not Survey of India maps, and zone boundaries are approximate. Figures such as production, capacity, counts of parks and ports, and census status change, so check the latest official source before relying on them. Found a mistake? Tell us.