IMC preparing roadmap to contribute to ‘Viksit Bharat’ through a ‘Viksit Maritime Sector’

 

The First Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the 37 members of the Indian Maritime Centre (IMC) was held on July 4, 2025, where CEOs and senior officials from Major Ports, State Maritime Boards, major Trade Associations and prominent companies & institutions such as IMU, CSLA, SCI, CONCOR, IRS, IPGL, IPRCL, DGLL, SFCL, NUSI, ACTO, INA etc. attended.

Presiding over the meeting, Mr Devki Nandan, Chairman of IMC, presented the vision and mission of the IMC, and a roadmap of how it will facilitate the fulfilment of objectives of Government the India under the Maritime India Vision-2030. Stressing on the strong fundamentals for growth in India, with the country poised to become the second largest economy in the world by 2047, he explained that a ‘Viksit Bharat’ (Developed India) would also need a ‘Viksit Maritime Sector’, and IMC will be major catalyst to achieve this vision. IMC will amplify the voice and value proposition of India’s maritime industry across the world and support the realisation of the Honourable Prime Minister’s vision of a Viksit Bharat with the cooperation and contribution of all the members. 

Mr Shankar Shinde, Vice Chairman, Capt. Sankalp Shukla, Director & Hon. Secretary, Capt. Vikas Vij, Director & Treasurer, and other board members Mr Rahul Modi and Mr Maneesh Pradhan, explained that IMC will provide a common platform for all the stakeholders, act as a think tank for policy formulation and conduct flagship events both nationally and internationally. They further highlighted the future partnership with Niti Aayog, German Maritime Centre, and participating in India Maritime Week-2025 organised by MoPSW, among other initiatives.

Dr Malini Shankar, Vice Chancellor of Indian Maritime University (IMU), highlighted that IMC can act as a think tank for assisting the government on important themes of international cooperation and bilateral agreements. She further suggested that proper statistical analysis and surveys are required to have a solid evidence-based policy formation, and IMC should develop the necessary framework for this. She further informed that IMU has set up a Centre for Policy Research, and IMC can be a partner with this Centre.

Mr Sunil Vaswani, Executive Director of Container Shipping Lines Association (CSLA), stated that IMC can further add areas of common interests such as digitalisation, simplification of processes, ease of doing business etc.

Capt. Arvind Verma, Director, India Port Rail and Ropeway Corporation Ltd (IPRCL), said that DG Shipping, which is at the helm of shipping policy matters, should consider consulting IMC for the holistic involvement of the maritime trade in shaping policy and regulatory matters.

Mr Amit Verma, General Manager, SFCL highlighted that Sagarmala Finance Corporation Ltd (SFCL) was launched at the hands of the Hon’ble Minister of MoPSW on June 26, 2025 to meet the financing needs of the maritime sector, and that IMC should help members in finalising the details and giving its inputs wherever necessary as SFCL planned to start debt financing activities very soon.

The Chairman and Board of Directors thanked all the members for their contribution and expressed deepest gratitude to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways for its leadership in conceptualising IMC and providing the guidance to strengthen IMC’s impact and its outreach globally. The EGM was followed by a lively ‘meet & greet’ session of IMC members to gain in-depth knowledge of their maritime domains, highlighted a communique.

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