Fact Sheet: Indian Navy's IFC-IOR

The Indian government will soon inaugurate the information fusion centre (IFC) to boost the maritime security and Information exchange in the for the Indian Ocean Region(IOR).
The Information Fusion Centre (IFC) for the Indian Ocean Region will be set up by the Indian Navy at the Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) in Gurugram, Haryana.

About Indian Navy’s IFC-IOR:

  • Indian Navy’s IFC-IOR will share information on “white shipping”, or commercial shipping with the countries in the region to improve maritime security and tackling piracy and terrorism in the Indian Ocean. It aims to become a maritime information hub for the entire region.
  • Only those countries will be served by this centre that have signed White Shipping Information Exchange agreements with India. Around 21 countries have such agreement with India till now.
  • The IFC will generate a seamless real-time picture of the nearly 7,500-km coastline of India by linking all the coastal radar chains.
  • The entire Indian Ocean region will be benefited by mutual collaboration and exchange of information through the setting up of IFC-IOR.
  • it will help in understanding the major concerns and threats prevalent in the Indian Ocean region.

India has also signed the ascension agreement to the Trans Regional Maritime Network (T-RMN).  T-RMN will allow information exchange on the movement of commercial ships on the high seas. The T-RMN agreement is being steered by Italy.
The information about the commercial ships is available primarily through the Automatic Identification System (AIS) fitted on merchant ships. It Automatic Identification System (AIS) chips have been made mandatory by the International Maritime Organisation for ships with more than 300 gross registered tonnage. These AIS chips contain information like name, MMSI number, position, course, speed, last port visited, destination and other vital data. The various AIS sensors read the information from these AIS chips and obtain the information.


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