Ports, shipping & waterways.

Ports, shipping and inland waterways is India's smallest transport industry by value added but by far its most profitable, converting 70-80% of revenue into value added and 40-60% into EBITDA because capital is sunk, tariffs are regulated or concession-set, and labour is a tenth of cost. Cargo has tripled since FY05 to about 1.7 billion tonnes in FY26, with ownership shifting from the 12 government major ports (75% of cargo in FY05, 52% now) to private ports led by Adani (28% of national cargo). Shipping is the mirror image of the ports story: Indian-flagged vessels carry only about 5% of India's own seaborne trade, so US$35-45 billion a year of freight is paid to foreign shipping lines. Growth to FY30/FY35 is driven by merchandise trade volumes, containerisation, private operators taking share at higher margins, and new capacity such as the Vadhavan port, while shipping stays small unless tonnage-tax and financing reforms lift the Indian-flag share.

Estimated GVA

0.4 ₹ lakh crore · FY26

Revenue

0.9 ₹ lakh crore · FY26

Cargo throughput

~1.7 billion tonnes (major ports ~880 mt, non-major ~800 mt) · FY26

Containers

~22 million TEU (Mundra 8.5 mn, JNPA 7.3 mn TEU) · FY26

Listed PAT

~0.165 ₹ lakh crore · FY26

Listed market cap

~3.9 ₹ lakh crore (Adani Ports ~₹3.0 LC, Jul-2026 spot) · FY26

Indian-flag share of EXIM trade

~5 % (fleet 13.5 mn GT, ~1,550 vessels) · FY26

Port capex

~35,000 ₹ crore (Vadhavan ₹76,000 cr started; Sagarmala pipeline ₹5.8 LC) · FY26