Paradip Port Holds India's Cargo Crown for Third Straight Year, Sustains Top-Tier Revenue Growth Over Five Years| Special Report

Bhubaneswar: Odisha's Paradip Port has quietly scripted one of India's biggest maritime success stories, transforming itself from a bulk cargo gateway into the country's undisputed cargo-handling champion while consistently remaining among the nation's top revenue-generating ports over the last five years.

The latest provisional financial data for FY 2025-26 shows Paradip Port Authority generated ₹2,893.62 crore in revenue, retaining its fourth position nationally among the country's 12 major ports. More significantly, the port has now held the No.1 position in cargo throughput for the third consecutive year, reinforcing its status as India's busiest major port by physical cargo handled.

From Revenue Consistency to Cargo Dominance

Paradip's rise has been marked by two parallel achievements.

Financially, the port has remained remarkably consistent. Its revenue increased from ₹1,895.73 crore in FY 2021-22 to ₹2,893.62 crore in FY 2025-26, registering an impressive 52.6% growth over five years.

Operationally, the breakthrough came in FY 2023-24, when Paradip handled 145.38 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) of cargo, overtaking Gujarat's Deendayal Port to become India's largest cargo-handling major port for the first time. The momentum continued into FY 2025-26, with cargo traffic touching an unprecedented 150.41 MMT, enabling the Odisha port to comfortably retain the national crown.

The twin achievements underline an important trend: while India's western ports continue to dominate financial rankings, Paradip has emerged as the country's logistics workhorse in terms of sheer cargo movement.

Five-Year Revenue March

Financial Year	Revenue (₹ crore)	Growth over FY22
FY 2021-22	1,895.73	Base
FY 2022-23	2,255.22	19%
FY 2023-24	2,658.18	40.2%
FY 2024-25	2,756.86	45.4%
FY 2025-26*	2,893.62	52.6%

*Provisional

India's Cargo Powerhouse

Although Paradip ranks fourth in revenue, it has established itself as India's largest cargo gateway among major ports.

Its 150.41 MMT cargo handling surpasses every other central government-owned major port, reflecting Odisha's growing importance in India's energy and mineral logistics.

Industry observers attribute this leadership largely to Paradip's strategic location along Odisha's mineral belt and its expanding role as the country's principal coastal shipping hub for thermal coal.

The port alone moved 43.97 MMT of thermal coal, feeding power plants across southern and western India. This cargo stream has become one of the strongest pillars supporting Paradip's record throughput.

Productivity Sets Paradip Apart

Behind the impressive cargo numbers lies a sharp improvement in operational efficiency.

Paradip recorded 34,303 metric tonnes per berth-day, the highest berth productivity achieved by any major port in the country.

Higher mechanisation has also played a decisive role.

The port has already achieved nearly 80% mechanisation, substantially reducing dependence on manual cargo handling while accelerating loading and unloading operations.

Coupled with digital initiatives such as the Logistics Port Performance Index (LPPI) and real-time cargo management systems, vessel turnaround time has reduced significantly, allowing ships to spend less time at berth and improving overall asset utilisation.

The PPP Model Paying Off

Paradip's expansion has largely been driven through the landlord port model, under which private operators invest in cargo terminals while the Port Authority focuses on infrastructure and regulation.

During the last decade, Paradip developed five major mechanised and deep-draft terminals through Public-Private Partnership (PPP), including dedicated iron ore, coal import, coal export and multipurpose clean cargo berths.

This approach enabled rapid capacity addition without placing the entire financial burden on the Port Authority, while simultaneously improving cargo handling efficiency.

The model is now widely viewed as one of the principal reasons behind Paradip's rapid rise in national rankings.

Maintaining Lead Over Eastern Rival Vizag

Paradip's leadership on the eastern coast has remained intact throughout the five-year period.

While Visakhapatnam Port Authority posted strong revenue growth during the middle years, it could not dislodge Paradip.

The revenue gap evolved in three distinct phases.

Paradip started FY 2021-22 with a ₹285.87 crore lead over Visakhapatnam.

That advantage widened to ₹393.12 crore in FY 2022-23 before Vizag narrowed the difference through faster growth during FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25.

Despite the catch-up, Paradip finished FY 2025-26 with a comfortable ₹307.77 crore revenue lead, earning ₹2,893.62 crore against Visakhapatnam's ₹2,585.85 crore.

Paradip vs Vizag

Financial Year	Paradip (₹ cr)	Vizag (₹ cr)	Paradip Lead (₹ cr)
FY22	1,895.73	1,609.86	285.87
FY23	2,255.22	1,862.10	393.12
FY24	2,658.18	2,334.18	324.00
FY25	2,756.86	2,448.87	307.99
FY26*	2,893.62	2,585.85	307.77

Infrastructure Creating Long-Term Advantage

Paradip's sustained growth is being reinforced through a series of large-scale infrastructure investments.

The Western Dock Project, currently under implementation, will add nearly 25 MMT of cargo capacity while enabling the handling of fully loaded Cape-size vessels.

The port's rated capacity has already reached 289 MTPA, putting it on course to cross the 300 MTPA milestone in the next few years.

Equally significant is the development of the ₹7,600-crore Smart Industrial Port City (SIPC), which is expected to transform Paradip from merely a transit port into an integrated industrial processing hub, generating higher-value cargo and revenue.

The proposed National Waterway-5 (NW-5) is another potential game changer. Once operational, it will connect mineral-rich regions such as Talcher, Angul and Kalinga Nagar directly with Paradip through inland waterways, reducing dependence on congested rail corridors and lowering logistics costs.

Rail Connectivity Strengthening the Hinterland

Paradip's growth story is also closely linked with massive investments in rail infrastructure.

Projects such as the Haridaspur-Paradip doubling, the Angul-Sukinda railway corridor, and highway expansion linking Duburi, Chandikhole and Paradip are steadily improving cargo evacuation from Odisha's mining and industrial clusters.

These connectivity upgrades are ensuring uninterrupted movement of coal, iron ore, steel and other bulk commodities, reinforcing Paradip's competitive advantage over rival ports.

Sagarmala Pipeline to Add Fresh Momentum

The Centre's Sagarmala programme is expected to further accelerate Paradip's expansion.

Odisha currently has 52 Sagarmala-linked projects worth nearly ₹56,000 crore under implementation or various stages of planning.

Collectively, these projects are projected to add around 83 MTPA of additional cargo handling capacity, with Paradip remaining the principal beneficiary.

National Position

Paradip currently occupies a unique position in India's port landscape.

• No. 1 in cargo volume among India's major ports.
• No. 4 in revenue generation nationwide.
• More than 52% revenue growth in five years.
• Three consecutive years as India's busiest cargo-handling major port.

With the Western Dock, Smart Industrial Port City, National Waterway-5 and expanding multimodal connectivity converging simultaneously, industry experts believe Paradip is entering a new phase of growth where it could narrow the gap with India's traditional maritime giants not only in cargo volumes but eventually in financial performance as well. 

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