Freight transportation by waterways is highly under-utilised in India compared to other large countries and geographic areas like the United States, China and the European Union.

Cargo transportation in an organised manner is confined to a few waterways in Goa, West Bengal, Assam, and Kerala.

On 31 August 2018, IWAI made 13 standardised state-of-art design public for the transportation of cargo and passengers keeping in mind Ganges complex river morphology, hydraulics, acute bends, currents etc.

The Authority also has its regional offices at Patna, Kolkata, Guwahati and Kochi and sub-offices at Prayagraj, Varanasi, Bhagalpur, Farrakka and Kollam.

There are 60 category II NWs in coastal regions with tidal stretches and feasibility reports for 54 of these (6 are in phase-1) will be delivered from May 2016 onwards[3] NW-6 is a waterway between Lakhipur and Bhanga of the Barak River.