Territorial Sea
12 nm out. India has full sovereignty here, like on land.
Exclusive Economic Zone
200 nm out. India alone can use the resources here.
Continental Shelf claim
Up to 350 nm out. Rights to seabed only, not water.
India’s 2025 claim
Added nearly 10,000 sq km of seabed in the Arabian Sea.
The Legal Starting Point
UNCLOS and India’s Territorial Sea
- The treaty: the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), signed in 1982, sets the rules.
- What it does: UNCLOS marks out a country’s sea zones, measured out from its coastline.
- Territorial Sea: India’s Territorial Sea reaches 12 nm from shore.
- Full sovereignty: India has complete control here. It is treated almost exactly like Indian land.
Worked example: stand on a beach near the Andaman Islands and look out to sea. For the first 12 nm, that water is legally India’s, in nearly the same way the beach itself is.
True or False: India’s Territorial Sea extends 12 nm from the coast.
A Sea-Only Unit
What a Nautical Mile Really Is
- The length: one nautical mile equals 1,852 metres. That is a bit longer than a normal mile.
- Why this length: it is tied to the Earth’s own shape, not to a road or a ruler. This makes it easy for sailors to match distance to position on a map.
- Fixed in 1929: nations agreed on this exact length that year. A body called the International Hydrographic Organization looks after it today.
Territorial Sea
0–12 nm. Full sovereignty.
Contiguous Zone
12–24 nm. Limited customs and safety checks.
Exclusive Economic Zone
0–200 nm. Sole resource rights.
Continental Shelf
Up to 350 nm. Seabed rights only.
Resource Rights, Not Land
India’s Exclusive Economic Zone
- The EEZ: India’s EEZ reaches 200 nm from the baseline.
- What it grants: India alone can explore and use every natural resource here. That covers the water, the seabed, and the subsoil below it.
- Living and non-living: this means fish and other marine life, plus oil, gas, and minerals.
- By the numbers: India’s EEZ covers about 2.3 million sq km. That makes it the world’s 18th-largest.
Worked example: a foreign trawler cannot legally fish 100 nm off India’s Bay of Bengal coast without India’s OK. That water sits well inside India’s EEZ, even though it is far from any beach.
True or False: India’s EEZ reaches 350 nm from the coast.
Claiming Seabed Past the EEZ
The Continental Shelf and India’s Extended Claim
- The Continental Shelf: this is the seabed that extends from a coastline, before it drops steeply into the deep ocean floor.
- The ECS option: UNCLOS lets a country claim an “Extended Continental Shelf” (ECS) past its 200 nm EEZ. It must show the seabed is a real extension of its own land.
- How far: such a claim can reach 350 nm from the coast.
- What it grants: an ECS claim only covers seabed rights, such as oil, gas, and minerals. It grants nothing over the water above, such as fishing rights.
- Who decides: a UN body called the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, or CLCS, reviews ECS claims.
- A separate right: India also holds a pioneer right to mine seabed minerals from the deep Indian Ocean floor, past its own EEZ.
Think it through. Why does an Extended Continental Shelf claim grant seabed rights, but not fishing rights?
Show the answer
UNCLOS treats the seabed and the water above it as two separate things. Past 200 nm, the water stays open to all. Ships and fishing boats can use it freely. But the seabed below can still belong to one country. That country just has to show the seabed is part of its own land. That is just what an ECS claim tries to show.
Not Every EEZ Right Is Exclusive
- The trap: exams list several EEZ rights together. One right in the list is often not exclusive at all.
- The real test: resource rights belong only to India. That means minerals, fishing, and conservation. Ships passing through, and laying sea cables, stay open to all countries. Even inside India’s EEZ.
- A related trap: “sovereign rights” over EEZ resources are not the same as full “sovereignty.” India cannot bar foreign ships from its EEZ the way it can inside its own Territorial Sea.
- How to prepare: split EEZ rights into two groups. Resource rights belong only to India. Travel and cable rights stay open to all. This split makes such lists much easier to read.
- CDS-I 2018 Asked which of four listed EEZ rights is NOT exclusive to the coastal state. Answer: ships passing through, and laying sea cables. Mineral survey, marine-resource exploitation, and conservation are all exclusive coastal-state rights. View CDS-I 2018 Paper, Q36 →
- UPSC Mains 2023 GS Paper I asked students to assess the resource value of India’s long coastline, and being ready for sea-linked risks. India’s EEZ and Continental Shelf claims are exactly the kind of coastal resource value this question expects students to discuss. View full question →
A Long-Running Claim
A Claim Turned Down, Then Fixed
- The original bid: India first sent its Extended Continental Shelf claim to the CLCS in 2009. It covered parts of the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea.
- The scale: that claim sought rights over about 1.2 million sq km of seabed, past India’s own EEZ.
- Pakistan’s complaint: in 2021, Pakistan objected to part of the claim in the western Arabian Sea. It said a roughly 100 nm patch crossed into the Sir Creek area.
- Rejected, with a path back: in 2023, the CLCS turned down India’s Arabian Sea claim in its first form. It let India resubmit with changes instead.
A 2025 Course Correction
Splitting the Claim to Avoid Sir Creek
- The fix: in April 2025, India submitted a modified claim for the Central Arabian Sea. It added nearly 10,000 sq km of seabed. (Source: BW Security World)
- The strategy: India split its earlier western Arabian Sea submission into two separate parts. On purpose, it left out the disputed Sir Creek region. This helped avoid a fresh dispute with Pakistan.
- Not just the Arabian Sea: India’s separate claims in the Bay of Bengal and the wider Indian Ocean, covering roughly 300,000 sq km, face their own complaints. These come from Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
Worked example: think of the earlier claim as one large jigsaw piece, snagged on a corner Pakistan did not accept. India’s 2025 fix simply cut around that snagged corner, keeping the rest of the piece intact.
True or False: India’s 2025 revised claim left out on purpose the disputed Sir Creek area.
A Seamount Caught Between Two UN Bodies
A Seamount Caught Between Two UN Bodies
- The deadlock: India applied to the International Seabed Authority for a 15-year licence. It wants to explore cobalt-rich crusts at the Afanasy Nikitin Seamount, in international waters beyond any country’s EEZ. (Source: The Diplomat)
- Why it’s stuck: Sri Lanka has its own extended continental shelf claim over the same area. That claim remains unresolved at the CLCS. The ISA cannot easily grant India a licence while Sri Lanka’s claim is still pending. (Source: The Diplomat)
- Why it matters here: this is the same CLCS-and-UNCLOS machinery described in this page’s own Great to Know cards. This time, it is snagged on a genuine India-Sri Lanka overlap, rather than India-Pakistan.
Quick Q&A
Q: How far does India’s Territorial Sea reach, and what rights does India have there?
A: 12 nm from the baseline, with full sovereignty, almost the same as on land.
Q: How far does India’s EEZ reach, and what does it grant?
A: 200 nm, with sole rights to explore water, seabed, and subsoil resources there.
Q: How is an Extended Continental Shelf claim different from an EEZ?
A: It can reach 350 nm, but grants seabed and subsoil rights only, not fishing or water-column rights.
Q: Why did India revise its 2009 Arabian Sea claim in 2025?
A: To leave out the Sir Creek area Pakistan had objected to, after the CLCS turned down the first claim in 2023.
✅ Test Yourself
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