OPINION | The rise of India’s blue cities

India is modernising ports through digital trade facilitation, multimodal transport, and smart logistics. (Representative image)

India’s maritime heritage reminds us that the harbours of the past can be the hubs of the future. Historically, its port cities, such as Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Kochi, have been gateways to the world, fostering cultural exchange, commerce, and innovation. Today, they hold the potential to become centres of finance, services, and human talent. However, this transformation will require policy and institutional support grounded in reality.

‘Blue cities’ paradigm

The ‘blue cities’ paradigm recognises that maritime strength is built not just on trade but on ecosystems of knowledge-driven services, digital trade, sustainable shipping, the talent that drives them, and the communities that sustain and shape them.

Oslo’s zero-emission ferries and Rotterdam’s digital trade platforms show how sustainability and smart logistics can drive competitiveness. For the Global South, the challenge lies in adapting these lessons while building ecosystems of services and innovation. With services already accounting for over a quarter of global exports, India can leverage its booming services sector to emerge as a leader in maritime services.

This transformation will require collaborations across Asia, Africa, and beyond, through shared knowledge, harmonised regulations, and co-developed digital trade systems. Singapore’s rise as a maritime arbitration hub and Dubai’s logistics model illustrate how coastal cities can carve niches within a cooperative global framework.

India’s boost for maritime infrastructure

India is modernising ports through digital trade facilitation, multimodal transport, and smart logistics. The Sagarmala programme has identified 839 projects worth nearly INR 5.8 lakh crore and has already expanded India’s port capacity by more than 528 million tonnes per annum.

Mumbai and Chennai stand out as emerging service hubs. the Jawaharlal Nehru Port’s Bharat Mumbai Container Terminal in Mumbai has emerged as India’s largest container hub. At the same time, Chennai’s rapidly expanding IT-enabled logistics and shipbuilding services can anchor maritime services, including ship finance and arbitration.

The need to build links with services sector

However, creating enabling frameworks that connect India’s maritime strengths with its booming services sector, which already accounts for more than half of the national GDP, is vital. Linking port-city development with programmes like the Smart Cities Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) can strengthen digital infrastructure, climate resilience, and citizen-focused planning. The Maritime India Vision 2030, Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, and SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) further underscore the role of sustainable port cities in driving national growth and enhancing maritime security.

No blue city can thrive without skilled human capital in digital logistics, artificial intelligence, climate risk analysis, and cybersecurity. Strong foundations in blue education, through university courses, vocational training, and research centres in maritime studies, ocean technology, and sustainable port management are critical.

Cities are about people

Equally, the lived experiences of coastal communities, such as Mumbai’s Koli fishers, must inform sustainability practices and blue economy strategies. India must also leverage its distinct advantages—youth, IT strengths, and startups—to establish maritime leadership. At the same time, it must ensure that women, youth and coastal communities are left out. Skilling, reskilling, and social inclusion policies can transform blue cities into models of equitable development.

The growth of India’s blue cities will depend on progressive policies and strategic investments. Beyond Sagarmala, India must integrate services, finance, innovation, and sustainability into port development. Maritime zones for financial services, tax incentives for ship finance, and streamlined digital trade regulations can attract capital and talent.

Initiatives such as ship recycling in Alang, offshore wind projects in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, and green hydrogen in Kochi illustrate how sustainability and services can combine to generate high-value growth sectors. Public-private partnerships (PPPs), which have proven effective in renewable energy, will be central to such efforts, given the capital-intensive nature of port development.

Connectivity to the hinterland will always be crucial

For blue cities to thrive, their reach must extend inland. Logistics corridors linking farmers, manufacturers, and small enterprises to ports can translate coastal prosperity into national growth. Cultural, environmental and social linkages, as exemplified by Chennai’s integration of port development into coastal heritage, including temples, museums, maritime festivals, and community engagement with port development, are equally vital while protecting the natural resources on which they depend.

The harbours of yesterday are being reimagined as tomorrow’s service capitals. This is not just an economic transformation. It is India’s chance to redefine its global role, lead the development of the Global South, and ensure that its coastal cities become hubs of prosperity, sustainability, and inclusion. Achieving this vision will require aligned efforts in policy, innovation, investment, and community engagement.

(The author is Senior Fellow at ORF’s Centre for Economy and Growth.)

Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.