Mumbai: Labour and Employment minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday said India will have to focus more on the maritime sector to become a developed nation by 2047.
Addressing ‘India Maritime Week 2025’, Mandaviya also claimed that Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama did not discover the sea route to India, but merely followed Gujarati seafarers.
He said that the maritime sector has the potential to create enough jobs and has progressed well in India in the last 11 years.
“The maritime sector is a global sector... India will have to focus more on the maritime sector to become a developed nation by 2047,” he said. Mandaviya said India was a big maritime power till 18th century, which was later destroyed by the British rule.
About 95 per cent of India’s trade by volume and 70 per cent by value takes place by sea.
The minister said the countries which ruled seas, rule the world, so the government is working to create an ecosystem for shipbuilding.