Coast Guard Commanders Conference for 2026, the 43rd edition, convenes at Coast Guard Headquarters, New Delhi, from Thursday, bringing senior commanders of the Indian Coast Guard together for the Service's apex annual forum.

It runs through Saturday.

Coast Guard Commanders Conference opens with a ministerial address

On Thursday, Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth will address the senior leadership of the Service at the official opening of the Coast Guard Commanders Conference. His interaction is expected to reaffirm the Government's commitment to strengthening the Indian Coast Guard and enhancing its role in safeguarding India's maritime interests and national security, according to the Service's own press material.


Agenda runs from security challenges to force modernisation

The three day gathering is billed as the highest level professional forum of the Indian Coast Guard, with deliberations spanning strategic, operational and administrative priorities. Over the three days, discussion will focus on current and emerging maritime security challenges, operational readiness and resource deployment, and a roadmap for capability enhancement and force modernisation.

Organisational priorities aligned with the national maritime strategy round out the agenda, an area the force has flagged in past editions of the conference as well, per Coast Guard Headquarters records.

Indigenisation review under Make in India

The Conference will also review ongoing initiatives aimed at bolstering indigenisation under the Make in India programme, in alignment with the Government's vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. The Coast Guard's push on that front has run through several forums this year, including a New Delhi CEOs roundtable where Seth pitched India's defence industrial corridors to Belgian manufacturers.

A modernisation push already under review

The commanders gather at a point when the Coast Guard's shipbuilding and platform pipeline is already under active discussion elsewhere. Shipyards and design houses met at Coast Guard Headquarters in July to convert broad qualitative requirements into measurable specifications for future Special Role and Multi-role platforms, a process detailed in an earlier Indian Coast Guard conference. A separate Request for Information for ten Medium Altitude Long Endurance drones for the Coast Guard's Aviation Wing is also in progress, aimed at extending surveillance reach across the exclusive economic zone.

Conference falls in a golden jubilee run up

The gathering comes as the force approaches 50 years of service. The Indian Coast Guard was raised in 1977, and 2027 marks the completion of its golden jubilee, a milestone carried on the conference's own event branding.