Vedanta president Anil Agarwal called for an urgent renewal of India’s maritime industry, warning that the nation takes far from China in global maritime domination. “Did you know that even if China has more than 5,000 large ships in its commercial fleet, India has less than 500?” Agarwal has published on X, highlighting a surprising gap in commercial shipping capacity.
He noted that international trade is “completely dominated by Chinese ships”, stressing that “98% of the world’s commercial fleet is led by companies that are either Chinese or use ships manufactured by Chinese”.
India, on the other hand, is “surrounded by sea on three sides” and has a “glorious history as a maritime nation,” said Agarwal. He urged the collective effort: “There should be no difference between the public sector and the private sector. All are one with this goal. To use a sentence of the shipment, our strategic interests need all hands on the bridge. ”
While Agarwal figures dramatize China control over the global trade routes, official data depict a more nuanced image. In January 2024, China checked approximately 19% of the world’s commercial fleet. But its domination of shipbuilding is indisputable – with a world market share spent less than 5% in 1999 at more than 50% in 2023. The country also manufactures 95% of the world’s shipping containers and 86% of the intermodal chassis.
India, on the other hand, is classified 16th in Global Maritime Strength and has ambitions to enter the 10 First Naval Nations of Naval Construction by 2030 – and the first 5 by 2047. Its ports manage 95% of the trade in volume and 70% per value. Freight traffic in Indian ports increased to 819.22 million tonnes during the 2010 financial year, an annual increase of 4.45%.
To fill the gap, India deploys a series of initiatives: the maritime company of containers Bharat, a coastal green ship corridor (Kandla – tuticin), 100 crores of drips in the interior waterways and 150 key projects under the Ministry of Ports by September 2025. The Sagarmala Startup and Innovation were also launched to combine maritime entrance.
