Indian coastline
The Indian coastline, spanning 1,200 islands and 7,500 kilometres.
India has nine coastal states, and six Union territories, with 66 coastal and island districts that are home to more than 200 million people.
This includes prosperous states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and West Bengal
Major cities along the coast, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Surat, and Visakhapatnam, together contribute almost 25 per cent to India’s GDP .
The coast is home to about 12 major and 200 non-major ports handling 1.4 billion metric tonnes of cargo, connected to freight and logistics infrastructure, as well as road and rail corridors.
An estimated 30 naval bases and 42 coast guard stations are located along the coast to protect India’s sovereignty.
India’s blue economy supports almost 95 per cent of all businesses in the country through transportation, and its estimated worth is around 4 per cent of the country’s GDP.
India is among the world’s largest exporters of fish, rice, coconut, fruits, pepper and other coastal commodities that are dependent on stable natural ecosystems. It is also the third largest fish-producing nation in the world, with a fleet of over 2,50,000 fishing boats sustaining the livelihoods of roughly 4 million fisherpeople.
almost 5,700 km of India’s 7,500 km coastline is prone to cyclones and tsunamis
India was ranked third among the top 50 nations that face the most danger from climate change in 2050.
According to a 2015 United Nations global assessment report on disaster risk, multi-hazard disasters cost India almost $10 billion annually, of which about $7 billion was lost due to floods alone.
Rising sea levels also threaten India’s landmass, with 235 square kilometres of its land lost to coastal erosion between 1990 and 2016.
Mission Sagarmala, conceived in 2015, has prioritised port modernisation, community development and coastal tourism.
Draft Policy Framework for India’s Blue Economy, prepared in 2020 by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (PM-EAC) has highlighted 7 priority areas:
- National Accounting Framework for Blue Economy and Ocean Governance Priority;
- Coastal Marine Spatial Planning and Tourism;
- Marine Fisheries, Aquaculture and Fish Processing, Manufacturing, Emerging Industries;
- Trade, Technology, Services and Skill Development;
- Logistics, Infrastructure and Shipping;
- Coastal and Deep-Sea Mining and Offshore Energy; and
- Security, Strategy and International Engagement
Among the key constraints to coastal resilience are overlapping and disputed jurisdictions between local, state, and Union governments, the armed forces and various public sector enterprises and lack of systematic engagement with local communities
Mumbai, for example, has a coastline of about 149 km, with numerous agencies and public sector units managing the city’s seashore. The Bombay Port Trust, Maharashtra Maritime Board, Union Ministry of Shipping, Indian Navy, the Coast Guard, the State Government of Maharashtra, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority – all have jurisdiction over parts of Mumbai’s coastline.
