The Indian Coast Guard: coastal security, maritime enforcement, and fleet expansion

What the Coast Guard is, and where its authority comes from

The Indian Coast Guard is an armed force of the Union under the Ministry of Defence, raised as an interim force in February 1977 with vessels transferred from the Indian Navy and placed on a statutory footing when Parliament passed the Coast Guard Act, 1978 (India Code). Section 14 of that Act makes its primary duty “to protect by such measures as it thinks fit the maritime and other national interests of India in the maritime zones of India,” and enumerates specific functions: ensuring the safety of artificial islands, offshore terminals and installations; providing protection and assistance to fishermen in distress; preserving the marine environment and controlling pollution; assisting Customs and other authorities in anti-smuggling operations; enforcing maritime law; and safeguarding life and property at sea (Indian Kanoon, Section 14).

The service is commanded by the Director General of the Indian Coast Guard from headquarters in New Delhi, and is organised into Western and Eastern Seaboards and five Coast Guard Regions — North-West, West, East, North-East and Andaman & Nicobar — each under an Inspector General, with subordinate districts, coast guard stations and air stations along the mainland coast and the island territories (Indian Coast Guard, official site). Its motto is “Vayam Rakshamah” — “We Protect.”

The coastal-security mandate, and how it divides with others

The Coast Guard’s authority widened materially after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, which came from the sea. In February 2009 the Cabinet Committee on Security designated the Indian Coast Guard as the authority responsible for coastal security in territorial waters, including areas patrolled by the coastal police, and as the coordinating body between central and state agencies on coastal security (GlobalSecurity). The same framework designated the Indian Navy as responsible for overall maritime security — coastal and offshore — assisted by the Coast Guard, state marine police and other agencies.

That division of labour means responsibility for the sea approaches is layered rather than singular: the Navy holds overall maritime security, the Coast Guard holds coastal security in territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone, and the state coastal police forces — administratively under the Ministry of Home Affairs — hold the shallow-water and shore interface. As part of the post-2008 build-out the Coast Guard established the Coastal Surveillance Network, a chain of static sensors — radars, Automatic Identification System receivers, day/night cameras and meteorological sensors — sited at dozens of locations along the coastline and islands (GlobalSecurity, as above).

The money: FY2025-26 allocation and the capital push

For 2025-26 the Indian Coast Guard was allocated about Rs 9,676.7 crore across the Capital and Revenue heads. Within that, the Capital budget was raised roughly 43% — from about Rs 3,500 crore in 2024-25 to Rs 5,000 crore in 2025-26 — described by the government as creating financial space to acquire Advanced Light Helicopters, Dornier aircraft, fast patrol vessels, training ships and interceptor boats; the Revenue head made up the balance, about Rs 4,676.7 crore (The Statesman). The allocation sits inside a record Ministry of Defence Union Budget of over Rs 6.81 lakh crore for 2025-26, an increase of 9.53% over the previous year (PIB).

These figures are drawn from budget documents and Coast Guard Raising Day statements; the Capital and Revenue splits above are the components the service itself disclosed. Where cumulative or force-strength numbers vary between sources, this brief attributes each to its origin rather than reconciling them.

The fleet: current strength, orders and indigenisation

At its 2025 Raising Day the Coast Guard reported a fleet of roughly 150 ships and about 76 aircraft, with 55 to 60 surface platforms and 10 to 12 aircraft deployed on patrol on a typical day, across an Indian Search and Rescue Region of about 4.6 million square kilometres (Sentinel). The service has stated a target force level of 200 surface platforms and 100 aircraft by 2030, and said it had placed orders for scores of platforms already under construction in Indian shipyards, with further contracts being processed (Sentinel, as above). These are the Coast Guard’s own stated targets and order figures, not an external projection.

The expansion is being executed largely through domestic yards under the Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India programmes. In 2025-26 Goa Shipyard Limited launched and delivered successive vessels in a series of eight indigenous fast patrol vessels, and on 27 June 2026 the Coast Guard commissioned ICGS Akshay — the fourth Adamya-class fast patrol vessel, with more than 65% indigenous content (ANI). Later vessels in the same series, ICG Ships Ajit and Aparajit, were launched on 24 October 2025 as the seventh and eighth of the run (DD News / Ministry of Defence). The Coast Guard has also reported cumulative operational results — over 11,730 lives saved since inception and contraband worth about Rs 52,560 crore seized over its history, including a single narcotics seizure of about 6,016 kg in the Andaman Sea (Sentinel, as above).

The contested thread: women officers and permanent commission

Alongside the enforcement and fleet story runs a live dispute over service conditions. In February 2024 the Supreme Court, hearing a petition by a woman Short Service Appointment officer, told the Union that arguments of “functional difference” in the Coast Guard could not justify denying women officers permanent commission in 2024, noting that the Army and Navy had already extended it, and indicated it would order the change if the government did not (LiveLaw; Business Standard). The Union’s position, as argued before the court, was that the Coast Guard’s structure differed from the other services; the petitioner’s position, upheld in the court’s remarks, was that women could not be categorically excluded. This brief characterises the positions as stated by each side and does not adjudicate between them.

Who owns this topic (and why we’re here)

The Indian Coast Guard is the seat of power for this topic: it is the statutory armed force charged under the Coast Guard Act, 1978 with protecting India’s maritime interests, and the Cabinet-designated authority for coastal security in territorial waters since 2009. The Indian Navy owns overall maritime security and the Ministry of Defence owns the budget and acquisition decisions; the Ministry of Home Affairs owns the state coastal-police layer. IndiaStand maintains this brief because the Coast Guard’s expansion — the money, the indigenous fleet build-out, and the enforcement and search-and-rescue tempo — is where India’s day-to-day control of its own waters is actually exercised, and because open questions such as the permanent-commission dispute test how the institution runs. We track the institution, not its officeholders.

Maintained topic brief. Analysis by IndiaStand — it characterises the state of play and the range of positions actually held, attributes each claim, and makes no forecast and no recommendation.