India charts ambitious waterways expansion: 47 new national routes by 2027, North East gets ₹5,000 crore boost

India's inland waterways network is set for a major expansion, with the number of states and Union Territories (UTs) covered projected to rise from 11 states in FY 2024 to 23 states and 3 UTs by 2027. Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, on Monday announced that 47 new National Waterways (NWs) will be operational by 2027. The cargo handling capacity of the inland waterways system is expected to grow to 156 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by March 2026.

Sonowal chaired a meeting of the Consultative Committee on Inland Waterways Transport in Mumbai, where the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) presented progress on major projects and a roadmap toward the Maritime India Vision 2030 target of 200 MTPA cargo volume. Members of Parliament present at the meeting backed the push for greater investment in the sector.

“Inland waterways are emerging as the watershed moment in India’s logistics and transport ecosystem…we are witnessing a transformational shift with policy interventions like the National Waterways Act, 2016, the Inland Vessels Act, 2021 and supplemented by multiple programmes like Jal Marg Vikas Project, Arth Ganga, Jalvahak scheme, Jal Samriddhi scheme, Jalyan & Navic among others,” Sonowal said during the meeting.

A key highlight was the announcement of a ₹5,000 crore roadmap for developing inland water transport in the Northeast over the next five years. This includes infrastructure projects on National Waterways 2 (Brahmaputra), 16 (Barak), and 31 (Dhansiri), with terminals, floating jetties, and supporting road and repair facilities under development.

The IWAI is currently undertaking 10,000 km of monthly longitudinal surveys to assess Least Available Depth (LAD) to aid vessel movement and navigability. On NW-1 (Ganga), a 1,390 km waterway corridor is being developed with cargo terminals at Varanasi, Sahibganj, Kalughat, and Haldia.

The meeting also reviewed the Regional Waterways Grid project, which seeks to link Varanasi with Dibrugarh, Karimganj, and Badarpur via the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route, covering 4,067 km. The projected cargo volume through this corridor is estimated at 32.2 MTPA by 2033.

On the tourism front, 15 river cruise circuits are currently operational on 13 waterways across nine states, with 51 more planned by 2027. Cruise terminals are under construction or planning at Kolkata, Varanasi, Guwahati, and four locations in Assam.

“Special efforts are underway to advance river cruise tourism across India by developing modern cruise terminals and related infrastructure.  Through strategic partnerships and MoUs with private enterprises, we are boosting luxury river cruises on the Ganga and Brahmaputra, while also expanding cruise tourism on the Yamuna, Narmada, and key rivers in Jammu & Kashmir,” said Shantanu Thakur, Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways.