India Maritime Week (IMW) 2025 in Mumbai, set for October 27–31, is being highlighted as more than a conference—a capital magnet—which, according to its organizers, could generate a mere five days of projects worth Rs 10 lakh crore (₹10,000,000,000,000) (approximately $112.7 billion at the latest exchange rates) for investment formulations. More than 100 countries are expected to send delegations, along with multiple ministerial teams from across the world, turning India into a convenor for the future of regional and global maritime trade.
“India Maritime Week is the flagship platform of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways to showcase the momentum of ports, inland waterways, and related industries across India,” said Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority’s (JNPA) Chairman Unmesh Sharad Wagh. JNPA, at Navi Mumbai, is India’s largest container port and is the primary stakeholder in IMW. “JNPA will use its presence to showcase large infrastructure projects to domestic and international investors,” said Wagh.
The scale of the financial objective is no less than extraordinary: “Rs 10 lakh crore” in India is an abbreviated expression of ten trillion rupees. Based on current exchange rates (roughly ₹1 = $0.01127), that is roughly equivalent to about $112.7 billion, putting IMW’s ambition in a similar range to capital asks associated with single-sector national infrastructure drives in other locations in Asia. Reference market pricing for currency conversion indicates the rupee was getting close to these levels in early October 2025.
Officials with JNPA told reporters on a familiarization tour that JNPA’s activities and a new Vadhavan port are expected to mobilize a meaningful proportion—around Rs 1.70 lakh crore (≈ $19.16 billion)—to the portfolio. This demonstrates how the organizing group sees marquee, site-specific projects as the lead investments that are to leverage follow-on expenditure across terminals, logistics parks, and hinterland connectivity.
IMW’s program presents more than just headline numbers, as it is combining business and policy—with state-level sessions, panels focused on logistics and infrastructure, and a women’s maritime conference. The “green” agenda is a significant theme of IMW’s programming as well, as climate-smart shipping lines and sustainable port operators are invited to share technologies and projects to attract climate-focused capital and investments in lower-cost financing. For Indian ports looking to double capacity while meeting emissions and resilience goals, the combination of policy signal and investment presence potentially will make the difference.
JNPA’s footprint is evident, as it handles half of India’s containerized cargo at major ports and operates five container terminals, including Nhava Sheva Free Port Terminals (NSFT) and the recently commissioned Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (BMCT). The authority is also expanding its footprint, with plans for a satellite port at Vadhavan and dry ports in Jalna and Wardha to spur industrialization of its hinterland—these projects, in fact, together comprise the nuts and bolts of the real investment pitch at IMW.
For investors, IMW presents a concentrated pipeline: port terminals, inland waterway projects, dry ports, logistics parks, and pilots for green shipping technologies. For policymakers, this is an opportunity—with international interest—to convert interests into memoranda of understanding, concession bids, and joint ventures that will lead to construction starts. The organizers say they expect many of the deals to be seeded throughout the week and then to be tracked through follow-up processes.
If IMW brings about even a fraction of the investment promised, IMW 2025 will be an important chapter in India’s ambitions to accelerate port capacity, connect its hinterland, and bring visible momentum to the maritime sector as a contributor to economic growth—part of a longer horizon officials say is building to a “Viksit Bharat” by 2047. Considering that for an industry, one terminal or one corridor can change the logistics economics, that ambition now has both a public price and international exposure.
