Indian Ports Bill, 2025 looks to overhaul century-old legislation

New Delhi: To upgrade India’s maritime infrastructure and port management, the Indian Ports Bill, 2025, which was presented in the Lok Sabha on March 28 this year, is now under consideration.

The Bill seeks to replace and repeal the Indian Ports Act of 1908 and represents a significant policy overhaul in the management and regulation of ports in India.

India’s maritime economy is central to the country’s national economy, with an infrastructure of 12 major ports handled by the Central government and 217 non-major ports managed by the state governments. Among the non-major ports, only 66 deal with cargo, while the remaining non-major ports mainly assist in fishing operations.

The ports of India collectively dealt with 1,543 million tonnes of cargo in the financial year 2023-24. Major ports accounted for 53 per cent of the load, with Paradip and Deendayal being the front-runners. Non-major ports, though, exhibited increasing relevance, particularly private ports like Mundra and Sikka, which collectively handled 19 per cent of the national cargo.

One of the highlight aspects of the Bill is the legislative acknowledgement of State Maritime Boards, which will now be conferred regulatory and administrative authority over non-major ports. These boards will be accountable for infrastructure development, licensing, tariff determination, and ensuring conformity with safety, security, and environmental standards.

Besides, the Bill gives legal status to the Maritime State Development Council, which would be headed by the Union Minister for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways and would comprise representatives of coastal states, the Navy, the Coast Guard, and the Union Ministry.

The council will issue guidelines regarding port data gathering and tariff clarity, make recommendations regarding legislative structures, and assist in the creation of a national perspective plan for port infrastructure.

Another significant provision of the Bill is the compulsory setup of Dispute Resolution Committees (DRCs) by state governments. The DRCs will be empowered to settle disputes concerning non-major ports, service providers, concessionaires, and users. Appeals against the decision of the DRC will lie in the respective High Courts. Nevertheless, parties may also choose alternative mechanisms for dispute resolution as laid down in their contracts with State Maritime Boards.

The Bill proposes a new tariff regime in which fixing the port tariffs will depend on the type of port. In major ports, it shall be either the Board of Major Port Authority or a company’s Board of Directors that is authorised to set charges. For non-major ports, this role shall be played by State Maritime Boards or those concessionaires who are specifically assigned such an authority. The conservator, being an officer of state-authorised powers, maintains powers under the previous Act but with additional duties like disease management, loss survey, and penalty determination.

Safety and environmental protection have been accorded major focus in the new Bill. Whereas previous provisions sanctioned direct threats to harbour security like damaging buoys or unauthorised discharges, the 2025 Bill requires ports to conform to international maritime conventions, among them the MARPOL Convention and the Ballast Water Management Convention.