Port sector in India is being driven by the high growth in external trade. India has 12 major ports and about 200 non-major ports. Under the National Perspective Plan for Sagarmala, six new mega ports will be developed in the country. In FY19, major ports in India handled 699.05 million tonnes of cargo traffic, implying a CAGR of 2.74 per cent during FY08-19. Cargo traffic handled stood at 524.03 million tonnes in 2019 (till December 2019). Cargo traffic at non-major ports was estimated at 529.6 million tonnes FY18 and grew at 10 per cent CAGR between FY07-18 and reached 281.0 million tonnes in FY19P (up to Sep 18) India’s total external trade grew to US$ 838.46 billion in FY19, implying a CAGR of 5.53 per cent since FY09. India’s merchandise exports and imports stood at US$ 211.93 billion and US$ 318.78 billion, respectively, in FY20 (till Nov’19). The Indian Government plays an important role in supporting the ports sector. It has allowed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of up to 100 per cent under the automatic route for port and harbour construction and maintenance projects. It has also facilitated a 10-year tax holiday to enterprises that develop, maintain and operate ports, inland waterways and inland ports. The government has also initiated National Maritime Development Programme (NMDP), an initiative to develop the maritime sector with a planned outlay of US$ 11.8 billion.