Ministry
Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways
The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is the Union ministry that formulates and administers policy, law and regulation for India's maritime sector — the 12 major ports, merchant shipping, coastal trade, shipbuilding and recycling, and the national inland waterways. Through it the Union government controls the gateways for the overwhelming majority of India's external trade by volume, making it the principal seat of power over the country's seaborne economy.
Updated
- Type
- Union ministry, Government of India
- Headquarters
- Parivahan Bhawan / Transport Bhawan, New Delhi
- Renamed to current name
- November 2020 (from Ministry of Shipping)
- Major ports administered
- 12
- Major-port capacity (Mar 2024)
- ~1,630 MTPA (from 800.5 MTPA in 2014)
- Sagarmala projects
- ~845 worth ₹6.06 lakh crore; 315 completed as of 24 Mar 2026
- Budget 2025-26 (BE)
- ~₹3,471 crore (reported ~21.41% above 2024-25 RE)
- Key laws (2025)
- Merchant Shipping Act 2025; Coastal Shipping Act 2025
Role
The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is the Union government’s seat of power over India’s seaborne economy. It writes and administers the rules for the country’s ports, its merchant fleet, its coastal and inland-water trade, and its shipbuilding and ship-recycling industries. It directly oversees the 12 major ports through their Major Port Authorities, regulates the Indian-flagged fleet through the Directorate General of Shipping, and develops the national waterways through the Inland Waterways Authority of India. Because the overwhelming majority of India’s external trade by volume moves by sea, control of this portfolio is control of the gateways through which the physical economy connects to the world. The ministry sits within a wider logistics cluster alongside the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The ministry’s present name dates only to November 2020, when the former Ministry of Shipping was renamed to foreground ports and waterways, but the institution’s lineage runs back through repeated reorganisations of India’s surface-transport administration and the Merchant Shipping Act of 1958. Its current agenda is organised around three stacked programmes — the Sagarmala port-led development programme launched in 2015, the Maritime India Vision 2030, and the longer-horizon Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047 — together with a 2025 overhaul of the underlying maritime statutes.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
- reference
Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 enacted
The statute that governed merchant shipping, ship registration and seafarers for the next six and a half decades, later replaced in 2025.
- reference
Ministry of Shipping established as a standalone ministry
The Ministry of Surface Transport was bifurcated into the Ministry of Surface Transport and Highways and the Ministry of Shipping; the shipping ministry was merged into the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways in 2004 and separated again in 2009.
- reference
Sagarmala port-led development programme launched
A flagship programme to modernise ports, improve hinterland connectivity, drive port-led industrialisation and develop coastal communities.
- reference
Ministry of Shipping renamed Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways
The renaming widened the ministry's declared remit to ports and inland waterways alongside shipping.
- reference
Maritime India Vision 2030 released
A ten-year blueprint with a stated target of raising major-port capacity to about 2,200 MTPA by 2030, unveiled at the Maritime India Summit.
- official
Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047 launched
A 25-year roadmap with 300-plus initiatives and a stated goal of about 10,000 MTPA of port capacity and carbon-neutral major ports by 2047, unveiled at the Global Maritime India Summit on 17 October 2023.
- official
Union Cabinet approves Vadhavan mega port, Maharashtra
A greenfield all-weather deep-draft major port near Dahanu at about ₹76,220 crore, designed as one of India's largest container gateways.
- official
Merchant Shipping Act 2025 and Coastal Shipping Act 2025 enacted
Parliament replaced the Merchant Shipping Act 1958 and carved coastal shipping into its own statute; the Merchant Shipping Act received assent on 18 August 2025 and the Coastal Shipping Act on 9 August 2025.
Frequently asked
- What is Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways?
- The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is the Union ministry that formulates and administers policy, law and regulation for India's maritime sector — the 12 major ports, merchant shipping, coastal trade, shipbuilding and recycling, and the national inland waterways. Through it the Union government controls the gateways for the overwhelming majority of India's external trade by volume, making it the principal seat of power over the country's seaborne economy.
- When was Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways established?
- Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways was established November 2020.
- What does Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways do?
- Its remit covers Policy and administration for the 12 major ports (Major Port Authorities), Regulation of merchant shipping, seafarers and the Indian-flagged fleet, Coastal shipping and the coasting trade, Development of national inland waterways through the Inland Waterways Authority of India, Shipbuilding, ship repair and ship recycling policy, The Sagarmala port-led development programme, Long-range maritime strategy: Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047.
- What is the latest on Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways?
- As of 2026-07-06: Merchant Shipping Act 2025 and Coastal Shipping Act 2025 enacted. Parliament replaced the Merchant Shipping Act 1958 and carved coastal shipping into its own statute; the Merchant Shipping Act received assent on 18 August 2025 and the Coastal Shipping Act on 9 August 2025.