Shri Shyam Jagannathan, IAS, India’s Director General of Shipping and Additional Secretary to the Government of India, has outlined an eight-pillar maritime decarbonisation roadmap tied to a sector that handles roughly 90% to 95% of India’s international trade logistics, according to India Shipping News.
Jagannathan used a World Ocean Day interview on Green Talk with Anil Pratap Singh on Munsif TV to put green fuels, ports, ship recycling, finance, technology, seafarer training and waste controls at the centre of India’s maritime policy.
He said shipping accounts for 2% to 3% of global carbon emissions and argued that the shift to sustainable shipping is an investment in India’s trade future.
The Directorate General of Shipping, under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, is implementing a National Maritime Decarbonization Policy Framework built around green shipping and ports, green ship recycling, green finance and technology, human capital and just transition, and waste management.
The plan covers energy-efficiency upgrades for existing vessels, a move from internal combustion engines to alternative net-zero fuels including green ammonia, green hydrogen and green methanol, and implementation of the Harit Sagar port guidelines.
The ship-recycling pillar places India under the Hong Kong Convention framework. The finance and technology pillar covers capital support for green initiatives and digital tools such as the maritime single window. The human-capital element targets an increase in the global share of Indian seafarers from 16.5% to more than 20%, with the longer-term aim that one in four global seafarers should be Indian.
Jagannathan linked the roadmap to the Viksit Bharat 2047 agenda. He said the blue economy contributes about 4% of India’s GDP and is important to the country’s targeted 7% to 7.5% compound annual growth rate. He also pointed to India’s 11,000-km coastline and growth areas beyond mercantile trade, including cruise tourism, coastal shipping, marine biotechnology, aquaculture and deep-ocean mineral exploitation.
The legislative programme includes revisions to the Merchant Shipping Act, the Coastal Shipping Act 2025 and the Indian Ports Act 2025. The Merchant Shipping Act streamlines vessel registration, ownership and wreck-removal procedures, while the Coastal Shipping Act 2025 focuses on domestic coastal trade, cabotage and feeder services linked to deep-water ports including Vizhinjam, Galathea and the proposed Vadhavan port.
The Indian Ports Act 2025 moves policy toward a “landlord model” and wider use of public-private partnerships. Jagannathan also tied ocean protection to inland river systems, citing microplastics, raw sewage and untreated industrial effluents entering rivers such as the Ganga before reaching the sea. He reaffirmed India’s commitment to SDG 13 and SDG 14 and called for transparent, consensus-based global maritime funds that protect developing nations and human capital.
The Directorate General of Shipping is India’s maritime administration under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. The ministry is the Government of India body overseeing ports, shipping and waterways policy.