Following the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Indian government initiated a program to triple its coast guard's force, assets and infrastructure.
This provided an added impetus for the Union Council of Ministers to approve the establishment of the academy in 2009.
On 27 February, the then Defence Minister of India, A. K. Antony, announced the plans to start construction.
[4] The academy was planned on a 160 acres (0.65 km2) campus near Valapattanam estuary on the Arabian Sea in Irinavu near Azhikkal in the Kannur district of northern Kerala.
160 acres of land in possession of the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board has been allocated to build the academy.