'India eyes a third of global seaborne trade by 2047': Sarbananda Sonowal

Mumbai: India will aim to handle roughly a third of global seaborne trade by 2047, union ports, shipping and waterways minister Sarbananda Sonowal said Monday.

This will be supported by a fourfold increase in port capacity and the development of deep-draft mega ports, the minister said addressing attendees at the India Maritime Week 2025 in Mumbai. "India currently handles about 10% of seaborne trade, and our goal is to triple it by 2047," the minister said.

In the past decade, the nation's port capacity has nearly doubled to 2,700 million tonnes per annum, cargo handled has risen to 1,640 metric tonnes and inland waterways cargo transport has grown from 6.9 million tonnes to over 145 million tonnes, he said. Sonowal said the India Maritime Week 2025 has representations from 85 countries with ₹10 lakh crore in investment commitments.

A study by the Centre for Maritime Economy and Connectivity, an autonomous research institute established by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries, highlighted that India's maritime investment has risen 2.5 times in eight years, from $3.3 billion in 2017 to $8.2 billion in 2025, with nine Indian ports now ranked among the world's top 100.