India’s maritime sector is undergoing a major transformation with critical government digital initiatives, fleet expansion plans, and strategic infrastructure investments. The Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has introduced ‘E-Samudra,’ a single digital window platform designed to integrate services for seafarers, shipping companies, ports, and maritime stakeholders, alongside plans to launch a beta digital dashboard on August 15 to track seafarers globally on both Indian and foreign-flagged vessels. Complementing these administrative advances, the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has floated its largest-ever $720 million (approx. ₹5,858 crore) global tender to acquire six cellular container ships with capacities of 8,000 TEUs, featuring a Right of First Refusal mechanism to encourage domestic shipbuilders. Simultaneously, the Centre is investing ₹1,000 crore into inland waterways across Assam and the North-East, primarily along NW2 (Brahmaputra) and NW16 (Barak), to boost cargo and passenger transit, improve last-mile connectivity, and integrate river shipping with railways and the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route. However, official warnings have also been issued by the Central Coffee Research Institute against unauthorized imports of foreign coffee plant varieties (such as Vietnamese TSS, TR-9, TR-11, and Brazilian strains) without mandatory quarantine approvals.