India has fostered strong bilateral and multilateral partnerships with key partners and like-minded countries in Indian Ocean Region (IOR), in line with India’s Neighbourhood First policy and Vision MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions). Vision MAHASAGAR encompasses the ideas of trade for development, capacity building for sustainable growth, and mutual security for a shared future.

Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways under its central sector scheme Sagarmala, in order to promote port-led development in the country, provides financial assistance under 5 pillars namely, Port Modernization, Port Connectivity, Port-Led Industrialization, Coastal Community Development and Coastal Shipping & Inland Water Transport to the implementing agencies like States/UTs Governments, Major Ports and other organisations. Digitalization efforts across ports and waterways are focused on standardizing procedures, reducing manual interventions, and improving information exchange between stakeholders. The One Nation One Port Process initiative has been undertaken to standardize documentation processes and re-engineer operational steps to lower transaction volumes and reduce cargo processing times. Other initiatives such as the Maritime Single Window (Sagar Setu), e-Samudra, e-Pariksha, and Jalyan & Navic are strengthening IT systems, to increase operational efficiency in the maritime sector.

The Ministry has recently enacted several legislations for the holistic development of India's maritime sector, namely: the Merchant Shipping Act, 2025; the Coastal Shipping Act, 2025; the Indian Ports Act, 2025; the Bills of Lading Act, 2025; the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, 2025; the Marine Aids to Navigation Act, 2021; the Inland Vessels Act, 2021; and the Major Port Authorities Act, 2021.

The Government has reviewed India's Shipping and Shipbuilding sector and adopted a four-pillar strategy to revitalise the shipping and shipbuilding sector. The Government has approved a comprehensive Rs. 69,725 crore package to strengthen domestic capacity, maritime financing, shipyard development, skilling, and reforms.

The Government of India has been focusing on development assistance, capacity building initiatives, economic cooperation, connectivity, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) support and defence & maritime security cooperation, with an aim to assist countries in the Indian Ocean Region on sustainable socio-economic development.

Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways promotes regional maritime cooperation through maritime agreements. Further, The Coastal Shipping Act, 2025 was enacted to consolidate and modernize the legal framework governing coastal shipping. Also, measures such as the High Seas Fisheries Guidelines and the Exclusive Economic Zone Rules support the Blue Economy.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

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MI/Indu

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