The Law of the Sea treaty recognises a 200 nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) from a country's shoreline. For India, with its 2.02 million sq km of EEZ, it opens up rich possibilities for the exploitation of oil, minerals, fish and other marine resources.

However, India has little to boast of in the area of deep seabed mining. Although it was accorded pioneer investor status in April 1982, which later conferred it exploratory rights over 150,000 sq km in the central Indian Ocean, India was late to start. It was only in the '70s that India's research and survey activities in the oceans began in full swing, whereas the US had ventured into deep sea exploration a decade earlier.

Since its early forays led by 2 research vessels,the Gaveshani and the Anveshak, India has acquired a fair degree of expertise in ocean-mapping systems. But the technology for the retrieval of mineral nodules from the ocean floor, now under development at the Central Mechanical Engineering Institute, is still at a rudimentary stage. The long-term outlook looks dim as deep seabed operations are highly capital -intensive. Currently, an estimated Rs 10 crore is poured annually into the country's deep-seabed exploration programme, a dry trickle. Given the technological and financial hurdles, joint ventures with international consortia in the field seem to offer the best hope for the country.