The Upcoming Transshipment Port In The Great Nicobar Along with an Airbase Is A Major Gain For International Commercial Shipping And The Andaman Theatre Military Command

The recently opened Vizhinjam International Transshipment Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport on the tip of Kerala facing the Indian Ocean, is already a resounding success.

It has been used by the largest container ships in the world, and its state-of-the-art automated AI assisted facilities are deeply appreciated by international shipping plying in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

Vizhinjam is situated just 10 nautical miles from major international East-West shipping routes. Developed as a public-private partnership with port major, the Adani Group, Phase 1 already handles 1 million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units). It is going to be expanded in due course to 6.2 million TEUs in later phases. The deepwater transshipment port has a natural draft of 20-24 metres and minimal littoral drift.

Now India has announced it is going to replicate this lucrative, strategic and commercial breakthrough, the first of its kind on the subcontinent, with another deepwater transshipment port in the Great Nicobar Islands located strategically just 40 nautical miles from the extremely busy Malacca Straits.

China, active in the IOR for several years now, has a number of port bases in various countries, but no deepwater transshipment ports. The nearest transshipment port in the IOR beyond Vizhinjam, is in Colombo, Singapore, and Port Klang. The others are farther away in the Asia-Pacific.

The International Container Transshipment Port (ICTP) at Galathea Bay in the Great Nicobar Island will be constructed alongside a fully equipped airbase with stretch runways for large and heavy civilian/military aircraft, power infrastructure, and other  defence installations plus an integrated purpose built township.

The overall investment eventually will be in the region of Rs.100,000 crores, starting with the first phase of the port at a cost of some Rs. 20,000 crores.

Like Vizhinjam, the Galathea Bay transshipment Port (ICTP) also has a natural draught depth of over 20 metres. The first phase is expected to be commissioned by 2028, with a handling capacity of 4 million TEUs, rising to 16 million TEUs in phase 4. The First phase of the Galathea Bay Port includes two breakwaters, a 400 meter wide channel for navigation, an 800 metre wide turning circle, seven berths at over 2.3 km length, a container yard with 125 ha, automated equipment for handling the containers including RMQCs (Rail mounted Quay Crane) and RTGs (Rubber Tyred Gantry) and two berths to handle liquid cargo. Like Vizhingam, It will also be a public private partnership and invite foreign investment as well.

Adani, with considerable port expertise at Mundhra and other ports in India, is already cooperating with Marseille Port in France and others in Israel and Greece as well.

 The ITCP transshipment port spread over 166 sq.km. is located southwest of Campbell Bay and the INZ Baez Naval Port. It is currently connected by the Campbell Bay-Galathea Bay road and Galathea Bridge No.46 built by the BRO(Border Roads Organisation). All these are likely to be enhanced to suit the development.  

Positioned ideally to tap into the trade between Asia, Africa, the US and Europe that passes through the IOR, the ICTP at Galathea Bay will compete with Singapore, Colombo and Port Klang in the near area that presently handles the transhipped cargo in the region that has not been tapped by Vizhinjam in Kerala.

The potential commercially is enormous if one realises that the prosperity of Shanghai, Shenzen and Singapore is partially and substantially based on its port efficiencies, its logistical sophistication, and the massive transshipment cargoes they handle. The ITCP at Galathea Bay is projected to generate at least Rs. 30,000 crores per annum in the first phase and provide over 50,000 jobs.

Great Nicobar Island  is the southernmost and largest of the Nicobar islands group. It is about 520 Km from Port Blair. It is located  on the main east-west international shipping route almost equidistant from Colombo, Malaysia’s Port Klang, and Singapore.

India’s container traffic stood at 17 million TEUs in 2020 compared to China’s 246 million TEUs. This provides some idea of the scope for growth India is now tapping into, with its two strategically located transshipment ports. Till now, India’s own transshipment cargo was being handled by other ports.

The entire Andaman & Nicobar Islands are also being gradually developed for tourism and fisheries, while defence is a key objective in several of the islands, as in Lakshadweep which is very close to the Maldives and not very far from Mauritius.  

Simultaneously, India is developing its existing and new greenfield ports along both sea boards. It is also expanding its ship-building, submarine and aircraft carrier building capacity, for military and civilian applications for both domestic use and exports. These include oil tankers and on-order ships for other countries. India is also turning into a repair and refurbishing hub for itself and allied naval fleets, including those of the US operating in the IOR and the Asia-Pacific.

India is also looking into deep water mineral harvesting and blue water economies in deep sea fishing to a much more organised degree, given that China is already very active in these areas too. Other countries are even fishing in our territorial waters.

Most importantly, developments in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are positioning India as a strategic and commercial partner in the Arabian Sea, the IOR and the Bay of Bengal without losing any more time over it.

(882 words)

February 18^th, 2026

For: Firstpost/News18.com

Gautam Mukherjee

 

Budget Announcements- Good For Its Capex Increase, Chip Manufacturing, High-Speed Rail Corridors, Sentiment Dampener For Stock Markets

The Budget presentation on Sunday February 1^st, 2026 held few surprises. It made three marquee announcements- raising the Capex budget by one lakh crores to 12.2 lakh crores. This will certainly help to keep the GDP growth on track at around 7% per annum via continued infrastructure development.

However, there are no direct incentives for greater private sector capex unless they choose to take up one or the other of the several incentivised sectors for boosting manufacturing.

The macro-economic markers have been preserved intact by this prudent budget, marked by incremental continuity rather than big bang initiatives.

The fiscal deficit target has been set at 4.3% of GDP for 2026-27. The government will target a debt to GDP ratio of 55.6% of gross domestic product for 2026-27 and the intention is to lower this going forward. Total government debt stands at 85% of GDP with the Centre accounting for 57% of it. This, as it stands, compares well with most other developed countries.

Second, there is an allocation of Rs 40,000 crores for electronics manufacturing, namely semiconductor or chip manufacturing. It is a second tranche to promote this vital sector, its R&D efforts, and training.

Third is the plan to develop 7 high speed rail corridors between major growth-oriented cities. These are Mumbai-Pune, Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad -Bengaluru, Hyderabad-Chennai, Chennai-Bengaluru, Delh-Varanasi, Varanasi-Siliguri.

Religious and pilgrimage tourism which has become a significant economic contributor in recent  times, with visitors to Ayodhya contributing 1% of GDP, and Varanasi proving to be a magnet with the largest number of visitors in the country, received careful attention in the budget. There will be new pilgrimage tourism circuits developed not only for Hindus but also Buddhists.

Several neglected ASI designated monuments will also receive restoration funds and initiatives. Other circuits for trekking in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will also be developed. Yet more for bird watching will be developed in Kerala, Assam and other states.

Many of the other announcements were intended as long-term structural adjustments to various sector incentives and duties towards the Vikshit Bharat targets for 2047. One example of this are the customs duty exemptions on components and parts to boost civil and defence aviation. India is keen to make its military and civilian aeroplanes in India now, along with  commercial ships and containers. This is in addition to a big push for military oriented ships and submarines, even another aircraft carrier, for the Indian Navy and Coast Guard. India is expanding its ports, container handling facilities, transshipment facilities along with setting up new ports along both coast lines and in the Andamans. Rs.10,000 crores will be invested in container manufacturing.

There is also a boost for inland waterways expansion for rare earth mining corridors in several states such as Odisha, Kerala, Andhra and Tamil Nadu to aid its transportation via these waterways. 

There was a boost given to the intended establishment of Data Centres by foreign entities with a tax exemption provided till 2047 juxtaposed with encouragement for them to provide cloud services internationally and to Indian entities via Indian intermediaries. 

Likewise, another Rs. 10,000 crores was set aside as incentive to develop the bio-pharma space. India will also use Rs 20,000 crores to develop carbon capturing facilities. Seaplane manufacturing will be facilitated. Fishing at sea is being incentivised with no tax, and dropping off the catch abroad will be treated as an export.

There were incentives announced for education and skilling. There are a large number of small incentivisation for a variety of items in this budget. Tax compliance process too has been eased.

Given a fragile stock market that has underperformed other emerging markets, plagued by FII abandonment and heightened volatility, it could have done with some encouragement. A lot of money was sucked into a slew of IPOs in the primary market over the past year and a pronounced rupee weakness too has not helped.  A capital gains tax easing and removal of withholding tax on FIIs would have greatly enthused the market. But it was not to be. Instead, there was a 50% hike of STT on futures and 150% on options which is estimated to raise a modest Rs 25,000 crores.

These impositions, on the face of it, therefore are not big in their impact on F&O traders, but sharply damaged the market sentiment, at least in first reaction.  The market fell hardest in the last six years. But it could drive more FIIs away in the short to medium term towards freer markets elsewhere and reduce liquidity even in the cash market.

There was a pre-budget expectation for a boost in defence spending particularly for aatmanirbhar manufacturing.  This did come in the budget with a 15.3% hike to 7.84 lakh crores in the budget of which only  2.19 lakh crores  is for capital outlay. This did not please the street, with profit taking on defence stocks which had risen some 16% in the run up. It could also be that some further purchases will happen on an ad hoc basis going forward, as and when negotiations finalise. There is probably a case for most important and even reformist initiatives being taken off-budget in the future.

In the end, this union budget was a continuity budget signalling stability within the constraints of a tight fiscal situation and geopolitical turbulence.

 

(881 words)

February 1^st, 2026

For: Firstpost/News18.com

Gautam Mukherjee