Prospects of the Blue Economy in India: Emerging Policy Challenges and the Way Forward

‘Blue economy’ is becoming a buzzword for high econo­mic growth with environmental sustainability, which is a reflection of the experiences of both developed and developing countries. A growing ‘blue voice’ emanates from a wide spectrum of countries about the efficacy of development strategies. Empirical evidence indicates that there is no ‘stylized fact’ about the contribution of blue economy to a country’s GDP. As a satellite account, the blue economy contributed 4.1% of India’s GDP in 2016. Accounting of the sector is important to identify priority sectors for policy planning in areas such as investment, employment, technology and other aspects of financial decisions. The blue economy value added in India is not only growing faster than the overall GDP, but is also becoming resilient to withstand adverse effects of the global exogenous shocks. Blue trade is becoming robust and is growing faster than the overall trade of a large number of littoral states. In India, blue trade shared more than 10% of the overall trade and openness of the sector was more than 100% during 2011–16. In blue trade, merchandise and services trade registered a favourable trade balance during 2008–22. The blue economy is likely to drive the Indian economy on a high-growth path after effective implementation of the National Blue Economy Advisory Council.