Pariksha Saathi21st Maritime State Development Council Meets in Mumbai, Adopts Maritime India Vision 2030 and New Shipbuilding Insurance Covers
The 21st meeting of the Maritime State Development Council (MSDC), chaired by Union Minister for Ports, Shipping & Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, concluded in Mumbai on 13 October 2026. This was the Council's first meeting since it was recognised as a statutory consultative body under the Indian Ports Act, 2025 (notified 15 May 2026); the MSDC itself had been set up in 1997 as a non-statutory coordination forum between the Centre and coastal states. Ministers and officials from coastal states and Union Territories, Major Port chairpersons and heads of allied maritime bodies attended. The Council adopted targets under the Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, and resolved that the One Nation One Port Process (ONOP) reforms - covering common documentation and process re-engineering - be rolled out at all ports, and that all ports integrate with the Maritime Single Window (Sagar Setu), by March 2027. Union Minister Sonowal also launched two new credit-risk insurance products for the shipbuilding sector - the Shipbuilding Project Credit Risk Insurance Policy (SbPCP) from ECGC for export projects, and the Business Credit Shield Policy-Shipbuilders (BCSPS) from New India Assurance for domestic projects - meant to protect shipyards against payment delays and risk during long shipbuilding contracts.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
The Indian Ports Act, 2025 — passed by the Lok Sabha on 12 August 2025 and the Rajya Sabha on 18 August 2025 — replaced the colonial-era Indian Ports Act, 1908, and gave the Maritime State Development Council (MSDC), until then a non-statutory coordination forum set up in 1997, formal statutory status along with recognition for state maritime boards.
Reference: PRS Legislative Research’s tracker on the Indian Ports Bill, 2025
Check yourself: was the MSDC a statutory body when it first met in 1997?
No — the MSDC was originally a non-statutory coordination forum between the Centre and coastal states set up in 1997; it gained statutory status only under the Indian Ports Act, 2025, notified in 2026.
Revision task: from this release, note the two new credit-risk insurance products launched for shipbuilders (SbPCP and BCSPS) and which insurer runs each, keeping that apart from the standing facts about the Indian Ports Act above.
Test yourself
The Maritime State Development Council (MSDC) was recognised as a statutory consultative body under which Act?
Show the answer
Answer: Indian Ports Act, 2025
The Council, set up in 1997 as a non-statutory forum between the Centre and coastal states, was recognised as a statutory consultative body under the Indian Ports Act, 2025 (notified 15 May 2026); its 21st meeting in Mumbai adopted targets under Maritime India Vision 2030.
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