The large seaports of India designated as "major ports" under the central government (administered through the Major Port Authorities Act, 2021), as distinct from the many smaller "minor" or non-major ports run by state maritime boards.
- India has twelve operational major ports: on the west coast, Kandla (Deendayal, Gujarat), Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru Port or JNPT (Nhava Sheva, the largest container port), Mormugao (Goa), New Mangalore (Karnataka), and Cochin (Kerala); on the east coast, Kolkata-Haldia (West Bengal), Paradip (Odisha), Visakhapatnam (Andhra), Kamarajar or Ennore (Tamil Nadu), Chennai, and V O Chidambaranar or Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu). Vadhavan (Maharashtra) was approved in 2024 as a thirteenth; Port Blair held major-port status only from 2010 to 2017.
- Jawaharlal Nehru Port (Nhava Sheva) handles the largest share of container traffic; Mumbai is the largest natural harbour; Visakhapatnam is the deepest landlocked port.
- Kolkata is a riverine (tidal) port on the Hooghly, paired with Haldia downstream because of silting; Kamarajar (Ennore) was India's first corporatised major port.
- Major ports together handle most of the country's overseas trade by volume; the rest is shared by numerous non-major ports such as Mundra (Gujarat), India's largest private port.
- Coastal and port security is shared by the Indian Coast Guard, marine police, and CISF, which guards designated major ports.
West-coast versus east-coast placement, JNPT as the top container port, Vizag as deepest, Kolkata-Haldia as the riverine pair, and the CISF role in port security are recurring transport and security facts.
JNPT (Nhava Sheva, container) versus Mumbai (general, natural harbour); Mundra is the largest but is a private non-major port; Port Blair is no longer a major port (status withdrawn in 2017), the new thirteenth is Vadhavan. Verify the latest port count and traffic ranking.
Twelve central major ports split west coast and east coast (Vadhavan approved as a thirteenth in 2024); JNPT leads containers, Vizag is deepest, Kolkata-Haldia is riverine.