India has a coastline spanning 7517 kilometres, forming one of the biggest peninsulas in the world. According to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, around 95 per cent of India's trading by volume and 68 per cent by value is done through maritime transport. It is serviced by 13 major ports (12 Government-owned and one private) and 187 notified minor and intermediate ports. India's major ports handled highest ever cargo of 795 million tonne in FY23.^[1] India has 13 major ports - Deendayal (Kandla), Mumbai, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore (Kamarajar), Tuticorin (V O Chidambaranar), Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) and Jawaharlal Nehru Port. Port Blair which was notified as major port in 2010 was removed of its status recently. The total 200 major and non-major ports are present in the following States: Maharashtra (53); Gujarat (40); Kerala (21); Tamil Nadu (15); Andhra Pradesh (13); Karnataka (10) and others (50).^[2] Government of India plans to build new greenfield ports and also built associated infrastructure such as railway lines through the 2015 established Sagarmala project,^[3] and National Maritime Development Programme.^[4]

Indian government has a federal structure, and according to its constitution, maritime transport is to be administered by both the Central and the State governments. While the central government's shipping ministry administers the major ports, the minor and intermediate ports are administered by the relevant departments or ministries in the nine coastal states of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Several of these 187 minor and intermediate ports have been identified by the respective governments to be developed, in a phased manner, a good proportion of them involving public–private partnership.

Location of 28 major & big ports of India. Hover over the dot to see the city name with rank in parentheses.

The following table gives the detailed data about the 28 major & big ports of India.^[9] (Source: Indian Ports Association and Indian Private Ports & Terminals Association )

There are maritime boards that port operates minor ports under the ownership of state governments.In 2018–19, minor ports of Gujarat alone handled total 542 MMT of cargo.^[13] Maharashtra Maritime Board sets record of handling 71 mn tons of cargo in 2022–23.^[14]

There are multiple regional minor ports in India under the maritime boards as given below:-

• Gujarat Maritime Board
• Maharashtra Maritime Board
• Karnataka Maritime Board
• Tamil Nadu Maritime Board
• Kerala Maritime Board

India has multiple port machinery companies such as Elecon Engg., TRF, Yellowstone Engineers India Pvt Ltd, McNally Bharat Engineering etc.

These type of ports are partially constructed or undergoing mass expansion due to which they are operating without full capacity.

These are classified as terminals not ports, these can be easily upgraded to container ports

Apart from this there are also LNG Terminals in ports such as Dahej, GAIL Kakinada FSRU, Hazira LNG Terminal, Krishnapatnam FSRU, Mumbai FSRU, Ennore LNG Terminal, Dhamra LNG Terminal, Chennai LNG Terminal etc.