Measuring the blue economy of India

Assessing the coverage and scope of ocean economy has been multifaceted and there has been an innumerous definition of the economic value of a natural resource, which has hindered the accounting of blue economy till date, but, the increasing importance to measure the ocean economy cannot be overlooked. At this point, however, there is no agreed scope and coverage of the ocean economy nor is there an agreed operational definition of the variables needed for its measurement, but as per the need of the time, it is important to place a value on the oceans because when we do not place an economic value on environmental amenities, we assume the value of the amenity is zero. The linkage of physical flows to economic transactions ensures a consistent comparison of environmental costs with economic benefits, or environmental benefits with economic costs. A number of countries have attempted to measure the ocean economy based on their needs and perceptions.

In this study the authors have attempted to estimate the contribution of the blue economy in India utilizing the data which are majorly available in the public domain. The paper attempts to compute the share of the blue economy in India's context.