India’s maritime ambitions begin in waste bins |
On 19 February, as India celebrated the legacy of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, a wooden sailing vessel named INSV Kaundinya was completing a remarkable voyage across the Arabian Sea to Oman. Built using the ancient Tankai technique i.e. stitched planks and coconut coir, not a single nail, the ship carried on board the economist and EAC-PM member Sanjeev Sanyal. It was a journey connecting India’s maritime past to its blue-water present. And what a present it is.
At Visakhapatnam, the International Fleet Review, Exercise MILAN, and the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium brought together over 70 nations, a scale unprecedented in India’s maritime history. But India’s ocean ambitions extend well beyond naval strength. 95 per cent of our trade by volume moves by sea. The Maritime India Vision 2030 targets Rs 3.5 lakh crore in investment across ports, shipping, and waterways. Port capacity has nearly doubled in a decade. Four landmark maritime reform bills replaced colonial-era legislation in 2025. A Rs 25,000 crore Maritime Development Fund and a Rs 69,725 crore shipbuilding package are on the table.
India’s coastline is no longer a boundary; it is the launchpad for the next phase of economic growth. One question, that refuses to go away: How do we sustain a trillion-dollar trade corridor without energy independence? India imports 88 per cent of its crude oil which is a bill north of $130 billion a year. By 2035, that dependence is projected to cross 90 per cent. Heavy fuel oil, the viscous sludge from crude refining, powers 95 per cent of global shipping. Every Indian vessel that sails on imported fuel is a floating reminder of this vulnerability. And the clock is ticking.
The International Maritime Organisation’s Net-Zero Framework, effective January 2028, will impose the world’s first carbon pricing on shipping – $100 per tonne of CO� for moderate non-compliance, $380 for the worst offenders. The global frontrunners are green ammonia and e-methanol that come with a staggering price tag, two to three times that of conventional fuel. For a nation aspiring to be the world’s third-largest economy, draining foreign exchange on imported green molecules is replacing one dependency with another. That is not Aatmanirbharta. The answer is not in........