Inland Waterways Authority of India

About IWAI

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) was established in 1986 for development and regulation of inland waterways for shipping and navigation.
It is a Statutory Body under the Ministry of Shipping.

Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI)

The Authority primarily undertakes projects for development and maintenance of Inland Water Transport (IWT) infrastructure on national waterways through grants received from the Ministry of Shipping.
The head office of the Authority is at Noida.

Inland Water Transport in India:

India has about 14,500 km of navigable waterways which comprise of rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks, etc.
Inland Water Transport (IWT) is the most economical mode of transportation, especially for bulk cargo like coal, iron ore, cement, food grains and fertilizer.
Presently, it remains underutilized at a share of 2% in India’s modal mix.
Government intends to increase the share of IWT to 5% as per Maritime India Vision (MIV)-2030.
For development of IWT in the country, 111 waterways (including 5 existing National Waterways and 106 new) spread over 24 States have been declared as National Waterways under the National Waterways Act, 2016.
As per constitutional provisions, only those waterways which are declared as National Waterways come under the purview of the Central Government while the rest of waterways remain in the purview of respective State Governments.

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