Home › PYQs › Indian Geography › Repeat & Gap Sheets › Ports of India
Ports of India: asked and not asked.
UPSC has asked 17 of these 24. 9 came more than once. 7 have not come yet. Lock the repeated ones first, then read the rest.
First, the concept
India has 12 major ports, run by the Centre, and about 200 non-major ports, run by the states. Vadhavan (Maharashtra) was approved in 2024 as the 13th major port.
A natural harbour is sheltered by the land itself (Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Kochi). An artificial one needs breakwaters built in the sea (Chennai). A riverine port sits up a river (Kolkata on the Hooghly).
Several ports have new names. UPPCS can use either the old or the new one, so learn both.
🔁 Asked again and again (9)
Tap a year to open that solved question.
Major ports: west coast
- Mumbai · Maharashtra; a large natural harbour 8 times:201420142014200420031998
- Cochin (Kochi) · Kerala; a natural harbour on Willingdon Island, by the Vembanad backwaters 7 times:200920092008200420042004
- New Mangalore · Karnataka; exports Kudremukh iron ore 5 times:20092009200420042004
- Deendayal (Kandla) · Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat; a tidal port with India's first free trade zone 3 times:200920002000
Major ports: east coast and islands
- Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port (Kolkata) · West Bengal; a riverine port on the Hooghly 14 times:202320142014200920042004
- Chennai · Tamil Nadu; one of the oldest artificial harbours 7 times:201420142004200219971993
- Visakhapatnam · Andhra Pradesh; a deep, land-locked and protected natural harbour 5 times:20232007200319931992
- Paradip · Odisha, Mahanadi delta; exports iron ore 2 times:20092009
✅ Asked once (8)
Major ports: west coast
- Jawaharlal Nehru Port (Nhava Sheva) · Navi Mumbai; India's biggest container port 1998
Major ports: east coast and islands
- V. O. Chidambaranar (Tuticorin) · Tamil Nadu; the southernmost major port
- Kamarajar (Ennore) · North of Chennai; India's first corporatised major port 2023
- Port Blair (Sri Vijaya Puram) · Andaman and Nicobar Islands; a major port since 2010
❌ Not asked by UPSC yet (7)
Items marked 'asked in UPPCS' have already come in the UP state exam, so examiners do use them.
Major ports: west coast
- Mormugao · Goa; exports iron ore asked in UPPCS
- Vadhavan · Palghar, Maharashtra; approved in 2024 as the 13th major port, being built
Major ports: east coast and islands
- Haldia · Down the Hooghly; part of the Kolkata port, built to take bigger ships asked in UPPCS
Big non-major ports
- Krishnapatnam · Nellore, Andhra Pradesh asked in UPPCS
- Dhamra · Odisha asked in UPPCS
- Gopalpur · Odisha asked in UPPCS
- Pipavav · Gujarat; India's first private-sector port
⚠️ Kandla is on the Gulf of Kutch, on the west coast, not the east. Kolkata is a river port, not a sea-coast port. Tuticorin, not Chennai, is the southernmost major port.
'Asked' is checked against the solved UPSC questions on this site. 'Not asked yet' does not mean it will surely come.