New Delhi, Mar 22 (PTI) The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in cargo traffic at India's major ports declining to 600.63 million tonnes (MT) in April-February as against 643.10 MT in the year-ago period, Parliament was informed on Monday.

India has 12 major ports that handle over 60 per cent of the export-import (EXIM) cargo.

"The total traffic handled at Major ports during April to February, 2021 was 600.63 million tonnes (MT) as against 643.10 MT during the corresponding period of previous year due to prevailing COVID-19 pandemic," Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Mandaviya further said a number of projects are on to augment the capacity of major ports.

"As a result, the cargo handling capacity of the Major Ports has gone up to 1,534.91 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) as on March 31, 2020," he said.

This is adequate to handle the present level of EXIM cargo and also increased requirements in future, the minister added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)