“India’s port sector seeks majority of investment from PPP mode”

India aims to become a major global maritime centre, seeking $1 trillion in investment by 2047, largely through public-private partnership (PPP) mode. This funding drive, highlighted at the India International Cargo Show (IICS) 2025, is focused on rapidly expanding capacity, enhancing efficiency, and pioneering green shipping initiatives.

Devki Nandan, Whole Time Director at JSW Infrastructure, said, “The majority of investment will come through the PPP mode, and the government has tried to take out all types of bottlenecks which we have provided to them.”

This clear commitment to de-risking the sector is designed to unlock private interest in key growth areas: ports, shipping, and green shipping.

The $1 trillion investment by 2047 is designed to establish India as a global maritime hub, capable of handling 95% of its trade volume and becoming a leader in the global supply chains and the Blue Economy. The investment roadmap was unveiled by the Union Minister for Ports ahead of India Maritime Week 2025.

The core of this plan involves scaling annual cargo capacity to 10,000 million tonnes (mt) by 2047, an increase from the current 2,600 mt. To achieve this, the government is prioritising key initiatives: developing greenfield ports such as Vadhavan, Keni, and Ramayapatnam; undertaking deep-seated modernisation and digitalisation to drastically improve efficiency and reduce turnaround times; and pioneering Green Shipping by establishing hydrogen hubs at major ports like Paradip, Kandla, and Tuticorin.

This comprehensive agenda spans infrastructure, logistics, shipbuilding, and job creation, all focused on making India a dominant force in global seaborne trade.

The government has identified 50 PPP projects worth over ₹60,000 crore, surpassing the original targets of the National Monetisation Pipeline, said Ports, Shipping, and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at a Business Standard event.

The government also aims to raise the share of private participation in major ports to 85% by 2030.

Long- term economic vision
Nandan outlined the long-term vision for 2050, predicting that India will become the world's second-largest economy when measured by purchasing power parity. He shared specific anticipated global shares based on purchasing power parity: China is projected to account for 20%, India 15%, the US 12%, and the 27-nation European Union (EU) 10%.

Purchasing Power Parity is used as the basis for this analysis because the capacity for trade and transport (the boat and cargo) is more closely tied to purchasing power than to absolute GDP figures.

On similar lines, Pranab Jha, Executive Vice President (Shipping) of JSW Steel, spoke about India's goal of becoming a 30 trillion economy by 2047, and said the industry's efforts towards this target.

He noted that JSW, as a company, is very aggressive on that growth path and has intermediate targets. “Business entities and joint ventures within the broader JSW Group currently have a capacity of about 38 million tonnes, which will grow to about 55 million tonnes by 2030. That's the interim plan,” he said.

The China Benchmark
Due to poor infrastructure (congested roads, railways), the steel sector, inherently grappling with some of the highest logistics input costs, faces an intense battle for global competitiveness.

The benchmark remains China, which has strategically used its control over the shipping ecosystem, driven by state-backed enterprises like COSCO, to dramatically lower the landed cost of its goods.

"We find that the product price could be very similar to the FOB (Free On Board) China price, but we are not able to compete with China in terms of the landed cost," the Vice President said.

This core challenge is exacerbated by factors like the unpredictability in container costs, known as container price volatility, which continues to pose a major challenge for Indian exporters.

Jha noted that India's container shipping sector is obstructed by the absence of a domestic shipping line.

Jha said, “This failure, one that China successfully averted, forces heavy dependence on foreign carriers. The consequence is a loss of control over costs and an inability to guarantee stable, competitive freight rates for the nation.”

Digitalisation and port capacity
While acknowledging progress in processes like customs and documentation, the Jha stresses the need to match the efficiency and timelines of countries like China and Vietnam.

An initiative, the adoption of blockchain technology for documentation, including Letters of Credit (LC) and Bills of Lading (BL), is facing adoption hurdles. Pushback from the banking channels, which are still hesitant to accept digital LCs, and customs, which occasionally require physical documents, is stalling the full realisation of digital efficiency.

On the physical infrastructure front, there is a clear call for faster and larger-scale capacity addition. While Indian ports have made tremendous capacity additions over the past two decades, the scale of China’s massive hub ports remains the ambition.

“The industry is actively engaging with regulatory stakeholders to resolve these systemic issues, from digitisation acceptance to port capacity expansion, recognising that only a concerted effort will unlock India's full export potential and cement its place as a leading global manufacturing and trading hub,” Jha said.