NEW DELHI, September 28 — The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways formally notified four major maritime gateways—Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPT), Paradip Port, Deendayal Port (Kandla), and Mundra Port—as India’s first designated "Mega Ports" under the National Maritime Development Programme.
The mega-port designation identifies deep-draft maritime facilities with cargo throughput capacity exceeding 300 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), state-of-the-art automated container terminals, and integrated multimodal rail-road evacuation corridors. The framework entitles these ports to dedicated infrastructure financing, fast-tracked customs green channels, and priority viability funding to establish them as competitive global transshipment hubs.
Ministry officials affirmed that the initiative aligns with the Sagarmala Programme and PM GatiShakti National Master Plan to drive down domestic logistics costs from 13% of GDP towards global benchmarks below 8%.
Maritime trade logistics, port development policies, and infrastructure corridors are frequent topics in competitive exam geography and economy sections. Candidates should know that major ports in India are governed under the Major Port Authorities Act, 2021, and JNPT in Maharashtra is the country's largest container handling port.