India boasts a 7,516 km coastline and 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways. Along its western and eastern coastlines are 12 major ports and 200 non-major ports, which together have handled 90 per cent of the country’s trade by volume.
In financial year 2023-24, India’s 12 major ports handled 819.227 million tonne of cargo, a 4.45 per cent increase from 784.305 million tonne in FY 2023, driven by strong growth in iron ore, raw fertiliser, coking coal, and container shipments, with Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority handling over half of the total container volumes.
That said, these five major ports reported a significant growth in traffic handling, on percentage basis, during April-July 2024 compared to the corresponding period last fiscal. These include Cochin Port, Visakhapatnam Port, Chennai Port, Deendayal Port and Jawaharlal Nehru Port.
| Port | Apr-Jun 24 | Apr-Jun 23 | %Variation |
| Cochin | 12,746 | 11,522 | 10.62 |
| Visakhapatnam | 29,061 | 26,612 | 9.20 |
| Chennai | 17,654 | 16,290 | 8.37 |
| Deendayal | 47,787 | 44,719 | 6.86 |
| JNPA | 29,537 | 27,912 | 5.82 |