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
Parliament aligns merchant shipping law with the Maritime Labour Convention 2006
The Merchant Shipping (Second Amendment) Bill 2013, introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 19 August 2013, was passed by the Rajya Sabha on 1 December 2014 and the Lok Sabha on 2 December 2014; it wrote ILO Maritime Labour Convention standards for seafarers into the 1958 Act, barred employment of anyone under 16 on ships, required a Maritime Labour Certificate for ships of 500 gross tonnage and above on international voyages, and raised the Shipping Master dispute ceiling from Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,00,000.
- reference
Sagarmala port-led development programme launched
A flagship programme to modernise ports, improve hinterland connectivity, drive port-led industrialisation and develop coastal communities.
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National Waterways Act 2016 puts 106 waterways under a single central statute
The National Waterways Bill 2015 declared 101 additional waterways as national waterways and repealed the five separate Acts that had declared the existing ones, consolidating the ministry's inland-water remit; it passed the Lok Sabha on 21 December 2015 and the Rajya Sabha on 9 March 2016.
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Admiralty Act 2017 repeals colonial-era maritime jurisdiction statutes
The Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Bill 2016 repealed the Admiralty Court Act 1861 and the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act 1890 and extended admiralty jurisdiction beyond the Bombay, Calcutta and Madras High Courts to the High Courts of Karnataka, Gujarat, Orissa, Kerala and Hyderabad, plus any other High Court the central government notifies; it passed the Lok Sabha on 10 March 2017 and the Rajya Sabha on 24 July 2017.
- reference
Recycling of Ships Act 2019 brings ship-breaking under a statutory regime
The Bill restricted hazardous material on ships, mandated inventories of hazardous materials and required authorisation of ship-recycling facilities, giving the ministry a statutory handle on an industry concentrated at Alang; introduced 25 November 2019, passed the Lok Sabha on 3 December and the Rajya Sabha on 9 December 2019.
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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.
- official
Major Port Authorities Act 2021 replaces the Major Port Trusts Act 1963
The Act converted the port trusts governing 11 major ports into Major Port Authority Boards with greater financial autonomy and moved rate-setting from the Tariff Authority for Major Ports to the individual port boards; the Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 12 March 2020, passed there on 23 September 2020 and cleared the Rajya Sabha on 10 February 2021.
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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.
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Marine Aids to Navigation Act 2021 repeals the Lighthouse Act 1927
The Act replaced a lighthouse-era framework with one covering all marine aids to navigation and vessel traffic services across India's maritime zones, created a Director General and a Central Advisory Committee, required certified training for operators, and allowed heritage lighthouses to be designated; introduced 15 March 2021, passed the Lok Sabha on 22 March and the Rajya Sabha on 27 July 2021.
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Inland Vessels Act 2021 replaces the Inland Vessels Act 1917
The Act set a single national framework for registration, safety, crew qualification, pollution prevention and accident reporting on inland vessels, ending state-by-state regimes that had run under a century-old statute; introduced 22 July 2021, passed the Lok Sabha on 29 July and the Rajya Sabha on 2 August 2021.
- 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.
- reference
Bills of Lading Act 2025 replaces the Indian Bills of Lading Act 1856
The Act restated the legal framework for issuing bills of lading and added a power for the central government to issue directions, retiring a statute that had governed the document of title for India's seaborne cargo for nearly 170 years; introduced 9 August 2024, passed the Lok Sabha on 10 March 2025 and the Rajya Sabha on 21 July 2025.
- 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.
- reference
Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 2025 replaces the 1925 Act
The Act restated carriers' responsibilities, liabilities, rights and immunities for goods carried from an Indian port to any other port in India or abroad and empowered the central government to amend the governing schedule and issue directions; introduced 9 August 2024, passed the Lok Sabha on 28 March 2025 and the Rajya Sabha on 6 August 2025.
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Indian Ports Act 2025 replaces the Indian Ports Act 1908
The Act put the Maritime State Development Council on a statutory footing, chaired by the Union Ports Minister with state ministers as members, gave statutory recognition to State Maritime Boards over non-major ports, required states to set up dispute resolution committees to keep port disputes out of civil courts, and bound ports to MARPOL and ballast-water obligations; introduced 28 March 2025, passed the Lok Sabha on 12 August and the Rajya Sabha on 18 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: Indian Ports Act 2025 replaces the Indian Ports Act 1908. The Act put the Maritime State Development Council on a statutory footing, chaired by the Union Ports Minister with state ministers as members, gave statutory recognition to State Maritime Boards over non-major ports, required states to set up dispute resolution committees to keep port disputes out of civil courts, and bound ports to MARPOL and ballast-water obligations; introduced 28 March 2025, passed the Lok Sabha on 12 August and the Rajya Sabha on 18 August 2025.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
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Canonical ministry home; divisions for ports, shipping, inland water transport, shipbuilding.
shipmin.gov.in/
- Annual Reports reports
Ministry annual report archive (2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 PDFs) under the publications section.
shipmin.gov.in/publication/annual-reports
- Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) department
Statutory body under the ministry that develops and regulates National Waterways; HQ Noida.
iwai.gov.in/
- Major Port Authorities Act, 2021 (India Code) legislation
Bare Act plus rules, regulations and notifications; replaced the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963.
www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/16956