Major and minor ports

Also called: Major ports of India · Topic: India's International Trade and Tourism · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 7 "Lifelines of National Economy"; Class 12, Ch 7 "Transport and Communication"; Class 12, Ch 8 "International Trade"

Meaning

A major port is a port controlled by the Central Government under the Major Port Authorities Act, 2021. A minor (non-major) port is a port controlled by a State Government or its State Maritime Board. India has 13 major ports, with Vadhavan added in 2024 [3], and about 200 minor ports.

• Most of India's foreign trade, by weight, moves by sea. Knowing who controls each port helps explain how India plans, pays for and runs its trade gateways.
• Minor ports are not small or unimportant. In 2024-25 they carried almost half of India's port cargo [4].

Explanation

How the two-tier port system formed

Colonial ports were unequal

• The British built a few large ports, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, to send raw materials (cotton, jute, indigo, tea) to Britain and bring in factory goods.
• Railways linked these ports to the interior. Other coastal places stayed small.
• Result: a few large ports served most of the trade. Many small ports had little traffic.

Partition in 1947 cut off two key ports

• Karachi went to Pakistan, so India built Kandla in the Gulf of Kachchh, Gujarat. Kandla is a tidal port (ships enter when the tide is high).
• Chittagong went to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), so India built Diamond Harbour on the Hugli river, below Kolkata.
• Haldia was later built on the Hugli to take load off Kolkata.

Growth and opening up

• Port cargo capacity grew from 20 million tonnes (1951) to over 837 million tonnes (2016) (NCERT).
• After the 1991 liberalisation (opening the economy to private and foreign firms), private operators were invited to build and run berths and terminals.
• New ports follow the landlord model:
• the port authority owns the land and basic infrastructure;
• private firms build and run terminals through PPP (Public-Private Partnership) [3].

Major ports vs minor ports: the key differences

Point	Major ports	Minor / non-major ports
Controlled by	Central Government (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways)	State Governments and State Maritime Boards
Law	Major Port Authorities Act, 2021	Indian Ports Act, 2025 (replaced the Indian Ports Act, 1908) [8]
Number	13 [3] (NCERT says 12)	About 200
Cargo 2024-25	About 855 million tonnes, a 53.52% share [4]	About 742.41 million tonnes, about a 46% share [4]
Official name	Major ports	Other Than Major Ports (OTMPs) [4]
Examples	Paradip, Kandla, JNPT, Visakhapatnam	Mundra, Sikka, Hazira, Pipavav (all in Gujarat)

• Major ports handled about 855 million tonnes in 2024-25, up from 819 million tonnes in 2023-24. That is growth of 4.3% [4].
• Paradip (Odisha) was the No. 1 major port by cargo for the second year in a row (2024-25) [9].
• NCERT says major ports handle 95% of foreign trade. The current data gives major ports only 53.52% of all cargo [4]. Use the current figure, and remember that the NCERT figure is old.

The laws that govern ports

Major Port Authorities Act, 2021

• It repealed the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 [6].
• Each major port is now run by a Board of Major Port Authority. This board replaced the old Board of Trustees, and all assets and liabilities moved to it [6].
• The board has a Chairperson and a Deputy Chairperson named by the Centre. It also has members from the state government, Railways, Defence and Customs [7].
• It came into force on 3 November 2021 [5].
• Aim: give major ports more autonomy (freedom to make their own decisions), so they act faster and can compete with private ports.

Indian Ports Act, 2025

• Parliament passed it in August 2025. It replaced the colonial Indian Ports Act, 1908 [8].
• It gives statutory (legal) recognition to State Maritime Boards. These boards plan port infrastructure, give licences, fix tariffs and enforce safety and environment rules for non-major ports [8].
• It makes the Maritime State Development Council (MSDC) a statutory body. The MSDC links the Centre and the coastal states on national port planning [8].
• It follows global conventions such as MARPOL (the international treaty against pollution from ships) and Ballast Water Management (rules on the water ships take in and let out to stay balanced) [8].

Conditions that decide where ports grow

West coast: indented and deep, so it has more ports

• The coast is cut by bays, creeks and gulfs (Kachchh, Khambhat).
• Deep water lies close to the shore, so big ships can come near.
• It has direct routes to West Asia, Europe and Africa through the Suez Canal.

East coast: deltaic and shallow, so it has fewer ports

• Big rivers (Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, Ganga) carry heavy silt.
• The silt builds deltas and a shallow continental shelf.
• Channels need constant dredging (digging out mud). Ports there are often artificial or built on rivers.

Hinterland

• The hinterland is the land area a port serves.
• A port with a large, rich, well-connected hinterland gets more cargo.
• Hinterlands are not fixed and often overlap. For example, Kandla, Mumbai and JNPT compete for north-west India.

Where it occurs

The 12 NCERT major ports (NCERT Class 10)

• West coast (north → south): Kandla (Gujarat) → Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) (Maharashtra) → Mormugao (Goa) → New Mangalore (Karnataka) → Kochi (Kerala).
• East coast (south → north): Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu) → Chennai and Ennore (Tamil Nadu) → Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) → Paradip (Odisha) → Kolkata–Haldia (West Bengal).

Vadhavan: the 13th major port

• It is near Dahanu, in Palghar district, Maharashtra, on the Arabian Sea north of Mumbai [3].
• The Cabinet gave in-principle approval on 5 February 2020 [2] and final approval on 19 June 2024, at a cost of ₹76,220 crore [3].
• It is planned as India's largest container port, with about 298 million tonnes per year of capacity [3].
• It will have 9 container terminals, 4 multipurpose berths, 4 liquid cargo berths, a Ro-Ro berth (for vehicles that drive on and off) and a Coast Guard berth [3].
• It will be built in two phases on the landlord/PPP model [3].
• Why here: deep water lies naturally close to the shore, and the site is near the Mumbai–Delhi industrial hinterland. JNPT and Mumbai are crowded and limited by shallow water.

Gujarat's non-major port cluster

• Mundra (Gulf of Kachchh): a private port for containers, coal and crude oil.
• Sikka (near Jamnagar): handles crude oil and petroleum products for refineries.
• Hazira (near Surat): handles LNG, industrial and container cargo.
• Pipavav (Saurashtra): a private port for containers and bulk cargo.
• Why Gujarat leads:
• it has India's longest coastline;
• the Gujarat Maritime Board opened ports to private firms early;
• it is close to the Gulf oil routes;
• it has a rich hinterland in north-west India.

Don't confuse with

• Major vs minor is about control, not size: a "minor" port is simply one under the State Government or a State Maritime Board. Mundra, Sikka, Hazira and Pipavav are large, busy ports, but they are all non-major.
• Major Port Authorities Act, 2021 vs Indian Ports Act, 2025: the 2021 Act governs the major ports and replaced the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 [6]. The 2025 Act replaced the Indian Ports Act, 1908, and gives legal backing to State Maritime Boards and the MSDC [8].
• NCERT's 12 major ports vs today's 13: NCERT lists 12. Vadhavan (Palghar, Maharashtra) is the 13th, given final approval in 2024 [3]. Do not count it among the old 12.
• Harbour vs port: a harbour is sheltered water where ships are safe. A port is the trade facility built there (berths, cranes, warehouses, customs).

Prelims Hooks

• Vadhavan (near Dahanu, Palghar, Maharashtra) is the 13th major port. It got final approval on 19 June 2024 for ₹76,220 crore, with a planned capacity of 298 MTPA [2][3].
• The Major Port Authorities Act, 2021 repealed the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963. It came into force on 3 November 2021 [5][6].
• The Indian Ports Act, 2025 replaced the Indian Ports Act, 1908. It gives statutory status to State Maritime Boards and the MSDC [8].
• In 2024-25, major ports handled about 855 million tonnes, a 53.52% share of all cargo. Paradip (Odisha) was No. 1 among them for the second year in a row [4][9].
• Trap: Mundra, Sikka, Hazira and Pipavav are non-major ports in Gujarat, not major ports. Kandla is the major port in Gujarat.
• Partition pairs: Karachi → Kandla (Gulf of Kachchh) and Chittagong → Diamond Harbour (Hugli, West Bengal).

Mains Points

• Uneven port development as a colonial legacy (GS-I):
• The British built a few large ports (Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai) to export raw materials.
• Partition cut off Karachi and Chittagong.

• India responded with planned new major ports (Kandla, Haldia, Paradip, JNPT, now Vadhavan) to spread capacity and serve hinterlands that had lost their ports [3].

• Governance reform for competitiveness (GS-III):

• Private, state-controlled ports grew fast, led by the Gujarat cluster. In 2024-25 they carried about 46% of India's cargo [4].
• The MPA Act, 2021 gives major ports more autonomy so they can compete [5].

• The Indian Ports Act, 2025 gives State Maritime Boards legal backing and makes the MSDC the link for joint Centre–state planning [8].

• Challenges and responses (GS-III):

• Overlapping hinterlands cause competition between ports.
• Weak rail and road links slow cargo movement.
• Silting raises costs on the east coast, for example at Kolkata–Haldia.
• Big projects like Vadhavan raise concerns about coastal ecology and fishing communities.
• Responses include port-led development through Sagarmala, dedicated freight corridors and the landlord/PPP model [3].

Read more

• Sea ports as gateways: history, major and minor ports, hinterlands