Port Modernization & New Port Development

Since about more than 90% of India's trade by volume is conducted via the country’s maritime route, there is a continuous need to develop India's ports and trade related infrastructure to accelerate growth in the manufacturing industry and to assist the 'Make in India' initiative. India has 12 major ports and approximately 200 non-major ports administered by Central and State Governments respectively.

As per the studies conducted under the Sagarmala Programme, it is expected that by 2025, cargo traffic at Indian ports will be approximately 2500 MMTPA while the current cargo handling capacity of Indian ports is only 1500 MMTPA. A roadmap has been prepared for increasing the Indian port capacity to 3300+ MMTPA by 2025 to cater to the growing traffic. This includes port operational efficiency improvement, capacity expansion of existing ports and new port development.

Project Unnati - Operational Efficiency Improvement

Under Project Unnati, the global benchmarks were adopted to improve the efficiency and productivity KPIs for 12 major ports. Around 116 initiatives were identified across 12 major ports to unlock more than 100 MTPA capacity just through efficiency improvement. Out of which, 93 initiatives have been implemented to unlock more than 80 MTPA capacity

Status of operational efficiency improvement at Major Ports:

Port NameTotal InitiativesCompleted Initiatives On Track Initiatives Delayed Initiatives Dropped Initiatives 
Paradip1413001
Kandla1414000
VOC53110
Kolkata63111
Haldia95130
JNPT1716010
Mumbai76001
Goa75020
NMPT52003
Cochin53002
Vizag55000
Ennore1312100
Chennai96021
TOTAL116934109

Capacity Expansion of existing Major Ports

For all the 12 major ports, master plans have been finalized. From the port master plans, 92 port capacity expansion projects (cost: Rs. 58,884 Cr) have been identified for implementation over next 20 years and are expected to add 712 MTPA to the capacities at major ports.

Port Master Plan Projects at Major Ports:

Port Master Plan Projects   
MajorNo. of ProjectsProject Cost (Rs. Cr)Capacity Addition (MTPA)
Chennai33771
Cochin34184.1
KPL1612412108
JNPT917627126
Kandla12606999.7
Kolkata1254
Haldia5112515.3
Mormugao5235923.2
Mumbai8547233
NMPT484318
Paradip8522478
Tuticorin124,999150
Vizag6193552
Total9258,884712

New Port Development

To fill the demand gap, 2 new major ports are planned which will bring in significant capacity expansion. The locations of these new ports are deliberated after detailed origin-destination study of cargo commodities and there are mainly three levers that propel the need for building new ports: New port locations have been identified based on the cargo flow for key commodities and the projected traffic:

Greenfield ports are proposed to be developed at

  • Vadhavan (Maharashtra)
  • Paradip Outer Harbour (Odhisha)