Coastal & Maritime Security in India

Significance of Coastal & Maritime Security

India is fundamentally a maritime nation. A long peninsular coastline juts into the Indian Ocean — the world's busiest energy and trade highway — placing India astride critical Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCs). Coastal security (the protection of the shoreline, harbours and littoral approaches) and maritime security (the protection of the wider sea space, ports, shipping, offshore assets and marine resources) together form a single continuum that is vital to national security and the economy.

• 7,516 km coastline spanning the mainland and island territories.
• 13 coastal States & Union Territories bordering the sea — from Gujarat in the west to West Bengal in the east, plus the Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep island groups.
• 1,382 islands (including the strategically vital Andaman & Nicobar archipelago that dominates the approaches to the Strait of Malacca).
• ~2.4 million sq km Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) — a vast resource frontier for fisheries, hydrocarbons and seabed minerals (the blue economy).
• ~95% of India's trade by volume (and roughly 70% by value) moves by sea, making maritime trade the lifeline of the economy.
• Energy security: the bulk of India's crude oil imports transit the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) through chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab-el-Mandeb.

Evolution of the Coastal Security Architecture

India's coastal security framework is best understood as a story of "before" and "after" 26/11 — the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which ten Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists infiltrated by sea, hijacking a fishing trawler (the Kuber) to reach the Mumbai coastline undetected.

Pre-26/11 Gaps

• No unified or dedicated coastal security mechanism; the sea was treated as a "soft" flank.
• Multiple agencies with overlapping mandates and no clear lead, leaving accountability diffuse.
• Negligible surveillance of the near-shore zone; fishing harbours and landing points were unmonitored.
• The Coastal Security Scheme (Phase-I), launched in 2005, had only begun to stand up coastal police stations.

Post-26/11 Overhaul

• Three-tier security system formalised: Indian Navy (overall responsibility for maritime security, including offshore and coastal security) → Indian Coast Guard (territorial waters and EEZ) → State Marine/Coastal Police (shallow coastal waters).
• Navy designated lead agency for overall maritime security; the Director General Coast Guard made responsible for coastal security in territorial waters.
• Sagar Prahari Bal: a specialised ~1,000-strong Navy force with fast interceptor craft to protect naval bases, dockyards and vital coastal installations.
• Coastal Security Scheme Phase-II (2011) and Phase-III expanded coastal police stations, jetties, interceptor boats, and four-wheel/two-wheel vehicles for the marine police.
• National Committee for Strengthening Maritime and Coastal Security (NCSMCS) set up under the Cabinet Secretary for inter-ministerial coordination.
• Surveillance infrastructure: a coastal radar chain, AIS (Automatic Identification System) and the NC3I network were rolled out to build Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA).

The Three-Tier Structure in Detail

The architecture is a layered, depth-based defence in which responsibility shifts seaward from the coast to the high seas. Each tier has a defined zone but the tiers overlap by design to ensure no gap is left unwatched.

Indian Navy

• Has overall responsibility for maritime security, including coastal and offshore security, as the apex tier.
• The Director General Coast Guard was additionally designated as the Commander Coastal Command, responsible for overall coordination of coastal security.
• Operates Joint Operations Centres (JOCs) at Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Kochi and Port Blair to coordinate the three tiers.

Indian Coast Guard (ICG)

• Established 1978 under the Coast Guard Act 1978; an armed force of the Union under the Ministry of Defence.
• Guards the territorial waters and the EEZ — anti-smuggling, anti-poaching, protection of offshore assets, search-and-rescue, and marine environment protection.
• Maintains the coastal radar chain and runs awareness programmes with the fishing community.

State Marine / Coastal Police

• Operates in shallow coastal waters up to 12 nm under the Coastal Security Scheme.
• Patrols fishing harbours, jetties and landing points — the "last mile" where infiltration is most likely.
• Often under-resourced: shortages of trained personnel, seaworthy boats, fuel and maintenance plague many states.

Issues in the Existing Architecture

Despite the post-26/11 overhaul, structural and operational weaknesses persist, repeatedly flagged by parliamentary committees and the CAG.

• Jurisdictional overlaps & turf issues: The Navy, Coast Guard, marine police, Customs, port authorities and fisheries departments all operate in the littoral, but coordination remains uneven and accountability gets diffused.
• No single central coastal authority: There is no unified statutory body with command over all coastal security agencies; the NCSMCS is a coordination committee, not a command structure.
• Fishermen identity & vessel registration: Issuing biometric ID cards to ~marine fishermen and registering/transponder-tagging the vast fleet of small fishing boats remains incomplete, leaving a large "blind spot" in the inshore zone.
• Manpower & equipment gaps: Marine police stations face shortages of seaworthy interceptor boats, crews trained in seamanship, fuel budgets and maintenance support; many boats lie idle.
• Surveillance blind spots: Gaps in radar coverage, especially in island territories and creek areas (e.g., the Sir Creek / Sundarbans), and limited night/all-weather monitoring.
• Coordination of maritime security: A long-standing demand for a unified maritime security coordination apparatus led to the creation of the National Maritime Security Coordinator (2022), but full integration of the dozen-plus stakeholders is still a work in progress.

Maritime Security — Elements, Importance & Threats

Elements of Maritime Security

• Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCs): the maritime trade and energy routes that must be kept open and safe.
• Ports & harbours: critical nodes whose disruption cascades through the economy.
• Offshore assets: oil and gas platforms (e.g., Bombay High), undersea cables and pipelines.
• Fisheries & the blue economy: livelihoods of millions and a vast protein and resource base.
• Marine ecology: coral reefs, mangroves and the marine environment, whose degradation is itself a security concern.

Why Maritime Security Matters

• Trade: ~95% of trade by volume is seaborne — any disruption directly hits the economy.
• Energy: the IOR carries the bulk of India's oil imports; chokepoints (Hormuz, Bab-el-Mandeb, Malacca) are vulnerabilities.
• Strategic primacy in the IOR: India aspires to be the "net security provider" and "first responder" in the Indian Ocean Region.

Threats to Maritime Security

• Piracy: resurgent off the Somali coast and in the Gulf of Aden; threatens commercial shipping and seafarers.
• Terrorism via the sea: the 26/11 model of seaborne infiltration of terrorists and weapons.
• Smuggling & trafficking: arms, narcotics (the Indian Ocean drug corridor), gold and FICN; human trafficking.
• Illegal, Unreported & Unregulated (IUU) fishing: depletes resources, harms livelihoods and masks other illicit activity.
• Chinese naval presence & the "String of Pearls": PLA-Navy deployments in the IOR, "research/survey" vessels, and a network of ports (Gwadar, Hambantota, Chittagong, Djibouti base) that strategically encircle India.
• Drone & missile attacks on shipping: the 2023–24 Red Sea / Gulf of Aden crisis (Houthi attacks) demonstrated a new threat to merchant vessels and crews.

Agencies & Institutions for Maritime Security

Maritime security in India is a multi-agency enterprise. Beyond the three operational tiers, a web of intelligence-fusion, surveillance and coordination institutions has been built up since 26/11.

India's Maritime Vision — SAGAR to MAHASAGAR

India's strategic outlook on the seas has matured from a coastal-defence mindset to an ambition of regional leadership and a free, open, inclusive Indo-Pacific.

• SAGAR — Security and Growth for All in the Region (2015): articulated at Mauritius, India's flagship maritime doctrine combining security cooperation, capacity-building, sustainable blue-economy growth and the role of a "net security provider" in the IOR.
• MAHASAGAR (2025): the upgraded vision — Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions — unveiled in 2025, broadening SAGAR from the Indian Ocean to a wider Global South / cross-regional partnership framework.
• Indo-Pacific & the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI, 2019): India's framework for a rules-based, cooperative maritime order across seven pillars (maritime security, ecology, resources, capacity-building, disaster risk, S&T, connectivity).
• QUAD maritime cooperation: India, US, Japan, Australia — the Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) initiative to track "dark shipping" and illegal fishing.
• IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association): the principal multilateral forum for IOR cooperation, where India plays a leading role.
• IMEC — India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor: the 2023 connectivity initiative linking India to Europe via the Gulf, with major maritime legs reinforcing India's trade and strategic reach.

Current Affairs Snapshot (up to June 2026)

• National Maritime Security Coordinator (NMSC): created in 2022, the office has become the apex node for synergising maritime & coastal security across the Navy, ICG, ministries and coastal states.
• Anti-piracy & anti-drone operations (2023–24): amid the Red Sea / Gulf of Aden crisis, the Indian Navy deployed a large flotilla in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden under a renewed Operation Sankalp, escorting merchant vessels, responding to Houthi drone/missile strikes and hijack attempts, and conducting high-profile rescues (e.g., the MV Ruen and MV Lila Norfolk interventions), reinforcing India's "first responder" credentials.
• SAGAR → MAHASAGAR (2025): the maritime vision was formally upgraded to MAHASAGAR in 2025, widening the cooperative framework to the Global South.
• IMEC corridor: progress on the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor strengthens India's maritime-trade architecture and Indo-Pacific connectivity.
• Chinese activity in the IOR: continued presence of PLA-Navy units and survey/research vessels keeps maritime-domain awareness and the "String of Pearls" challenge high on the agenda.
• Coastal security exercises: pan-India coastal defence exercises ("Sea Vigil") continue to test the three-tier system and inter-agency coordination.

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