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The sea matters to modern India both as an economic operating space and as a domain the government must secure. Ports and coastal shipping move large volumes of cargo; fisheries bring export earnings and support livelihoods; and wider blue-economy plans encompass sectors such as offshore energy and undersea cables. These activities make maritime security important, but the available figures do not establish a single measure of India’s total dependence on the sea.
How important are ports and coastal shipping to India’s economy?
Indian ports handled 1,594.33 million tonnes of cargo in FY 2024–25, according to a Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways reply published by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on August 5, 2025. The ministry’s five-year series shows cargo volumes rising each year:
| Fiscal year | Cargo handled at Indian ports |
|---|---|
| 2020–21 | 1,249.98 million tonnes |
| 2021–22 | 1,323.80 million tonnes |
| 2022–23 | 1,435.33 million tonnes |
| 2023–24 | 1,542.64 million tonnes |
| 2024–25 | 1,594.33 million tonnes |
Cargo tonnage measures the weight handled, not the value of goods or the share of India’s trade that travels by sea. The ministry reply also gives an import/export percentage column, but without a confirmed definition it should not be treated as a measure of seaborne trade’s share of national trade.
Coastal shipping is a separate measure
Coastal shipping carries cargo between locations along India’s coast, rather than measuring all cargo handled at ports. The ministry reported that coastal-shipping cargo increased from 86.3 million tonnes in FY 2014–15 to 165.4 million tonnes in FY 2024–25. That growth shows greater domestic coastal carriage; on its own, it does not establish that shipping is cheaper, more efficient or lower-emission on every route or for every type of cargo.
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For shipping-specific tables and definitions, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways lists Indian Shipping Statistics 2024 as an official publication; its listing was updated in 2025.
What do fisheries contribute?
Fisheries connect the maritime economy to export earnings and coastal livelihoods. NITI Aayog’s 2025 report, India’s Blue Economy: Strategy for Harnessing Deep-Sea and Offshore Fisheries, describes a coastline of 11,098 km across nine coastal states and four union territories.
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- Fishery-product export earnings reached ₹60,523 crore in FY 2023–24, compared with ₹30,213 crore in FY 2013–14, according to the NITI Aayog report.
- The report estimates that the fisheries sector supports around 30 million livelihoods. This is a livelihoods figure, not a count of full-time jobs.
- A PIB announcement about the report, published October 13, 2025, described India as the world’s second-largest fish-producing country and said it accounted for 8% of global fish production.
Export earnings and livelihoods describe different things: one is a monetary measure of fishery-product exports, while the other counts people whose livelihoods the sector supports. The report identifies deep-sea fisheries as an area with potential as well as policy challenges; it does not make that potential equivalent to current output.
What does “blue economy” include beyond ports and fisheries?
Government blue-economy materials use the term for a wider group of activities and assets, not one uniformly measured industry. A Ministry of Earth Sciences workshop release from March 2024 includes coastal infrastructure, shipping, seaborne trade, offshore energy assets, tourism, undersea pipelines and communication cables, renewable energy and seabed resources in its broad framing.
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A Ministry of Earth Sciences investment paper also identifies sectors for investment consideration, including shipbuilding, vessel repair and recycling, port logistics, chartering and brokerage, ocean renewable energy, deep-sea fisheries and marine biotechnology. Their inclusion signals areas under consideration; it does not establish that each is already large, mature or profitable.
For that reason, the port-cargo, coastal-shipping and fisheries figures above should not be added together or presented as the total value of India’s blue economy. They measure different activities, while the broader sector lists do not supply a comparable total.
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Why does the sea matter strategically?
Maritime security protects activity and infrastructure in coastal and offshore spaces and helps support safe maritime operations. The government’s division of responsibility, as described in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways reply published by PIB on August 5, 2025, distinguishes the Navy’s overall role from the Coast Guard’s coastal-security role:
- Indian Navy: designated authority for overall maritime security, including coastal and offshore security.
- Indian Coast Guard: responsible for coastal security in territorial waters, including areas patrolled by coastal police.
The same reply describes measures including surveillance and patrols, routine checks of fishing boats and other operators, state and territory standard operating procedures, and radar surveillance. It reported that the Coast Guard deployed 18–20 ships, 30–35 boats or craft, and 10–12 aircraft daily for surveillance and security operations. It also reported 46 radar stations in a shore-based static sensor chain, with 38 more being set up in phase two. These are government-reported operational figures from 2025, not permanent staffing or equipment totals.
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What the available figures can—and cannot—show
Together, the figures document substantial port activity, expanded domestic coastal carriage, and fisheries export earnings and livelihoods. The security arrangements show that government agencies have defined responsibilities and surveillance measures in the maritime domain.
They do not quantify the total share of India’s external trade or energy supply that depends on seaborne routes, nor do they provide a basis for ranking naval capabilities or assessing the balance of power in the Indian Ocean. Those are distinct questions requiring evidence beyond the activity and institutional figures presented here.
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