RPSL # MUM-162374 | DOI - 08/05/2026 | DOE - 08/05/2031 ✦ GST No: 05AAJCN9631J1Z4 ✦ ISO CERTIFIED 9001:2015
On 28 August 2026, the Directorate General of Maritime Administration issued Order 22 of 2026. Within a day, headlines started circulating that Indian seafarers now need ₹1 crore of insurance to sail.
That is not what the order says.
We have read the order itself rather than the coverage of it, and the actual rule is narrower, more specific, and in some ways more demanding than the headline suggests. Here is the whole thing, in plain language.
What the order is, and where it comes from
Order 22 of 2026 was issued under Section 301 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 2025, read together with the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 and the Merchant Shipping (Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers) Rules, 2016.
It does not stand alone. It builds directly on DGS Order No. 08 of 2026 dated 14 May 2026, which introduced preventive measures against the abandonment of Indian seafarers on foreign-flag vessels. That earlier order is where the requirement for valid and verifiable financial security came from. Order 22 tightens the insurance side of it.
The order is addressed to all RPSL companies, all concerned stakeholders, and all Indian seafarers. It came into force with immediate effect.
The core rule: two acceptable ways to be covered
Before any RPSL company engages, recruits or deploys an Indian seafarer on a vessel, that vessel must have valid and verifiable P&I or insurance coverage through one of exactly two routes:
Route one. A P&I club that is a member of the International Group of P&I Clubs.
Route two. A non-IG insurance company or P&I club that appears on the approved list published on the official DGMA website.
If the ship’s cover comes from either of those, the requirement is met. Nothing further is needed.
The order also puts a specific duty on the agency, not just on the shipowner. The RPSL company has to verify the validity and the authenticity of the certificate before deployment, and keep documentary evidence of having done that check. Holding a copy of the certificate is not the same as verifying it. The order asks for proof of the verification itself.
Where the ₹1 crore actually comes in
This is the part the headlines got wrong.
If a vessel is not covered under either of the two routes above, then the RPSL company must ensure mandatory insurance of not less than ₹1,00,00,000 (Rupees One Crore) per Indian seafarer, taken from either an IRDA-approved Indian insurance company or a DGMA-approved P&I service provider. (The order uses the older abbreviation “IRDA”; the regulator has been IRDAI since 2014.)
Three things worth being precise about:
It is per seafarer, not per vessel. Ten Indian crew on an uncovered ship means ten times the cover, not one policy of ₹1 crore split between them.
It is a floor, not a fixed amount. The order says “not less than.”
It is a fallback. The order states explicitly that this requirement applies only to vessels not already covered under the two accepted routes. If your ship is entered with an IG club, this paragraph does not apply to you at all.
One point the order does not settle: it specifies the amount but not the scope of what that ₹1 crore has to cover. RPSL companies arranging such policies will want written clarity from DGMA or from their broker on which liabilities the cover is expected to answer for.
If a seafarer is already on board an uncovered ship
Order 22 does not only look forward. It deals with crew already deployed.
If a vessel carrying Indian seafarers is found to have coverage outside the two accepted routes, or where the cover turns out to be invalid, inadequate, unavailable or simply not verifiable, the RPSL company must immediately do one of two things:
- Obtain the additional ₹1 crore per-seafarer cover, within a maximum of one month; or
- Arrange the sign-off of the Indian seafarers at the earliest port of call within one month, followed by safe repatriation to India.
Until the required cover is in place and verified, no further Indian seafarer may be engaged, recruited or deployed on that vessel.
Reporting and records
Two further obligations sit on the agency.
Reporting. The RPSL company must inform DGMA within one month of any such non-compliance, and furnish details of the action taken, including sign-off and repatriation where that applies.
Records. RPSL companies must maintain proper records of both the P&I certificates and any additional cover arranged, and produce them before DGMA whenever required – in any event within 07 working days of a request.
That seven-day window is the one most likely to catch agencies out. It assumes records are already organised and retrievable, not assembled after the request arrives.
The deadline
For Indian seafarers already deployed as on 28 August 2026, RPSL companies have 30 working days from the date of issuance to bring things into compliance with paragraph 3.
Thirty working days from 28 August lands in roughly the second week of October 2026, depending on how gazetted holidays fall. Agencies should count it against their own holiday calendar rather than assume a date, and should not plan to finish on the last day.
For new deployments, the order is already in force. There is no grace period.
What happens if an agency does not comply
The order states that failure will be viewed seriously and may attract action under the Merchant Shipping Act, 2025, the Merchant Shipping (Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers) Rules, 2016, and applicable DGS Orders.
Read alongside Order 08 of 2026, which already provides for blacklisting of RPSL companies and their promoters and for legal proceedings, the exposure here is to the licence itself.
For seafarers: what to check before you sign on
You are not the one who has to arrange any of this. The duty sits squarely on the RPSL company. But you are the one on the ship if it goes wrong, and abandonment cases are precisely what this order exists to prevent.
Three things are worth asking before you join.
Ask which P&I club the vessel is entered with. A genuine agency will answer this without hesitation. It is routine information, not confidential.
Check the club against the two accepted routes. International Group membership can be checked on the International Group’s own website. The DGMA-approved non-IG list is published on the DGMA site under Maritime Insurance.
Verify your agency’s own RPSL status. DGMA publishes a live list of valid, invalid and temporarily suspended RPSL holders. An agency that cannot be found on the valid list is not one you should be joining a ship through, regardless of what the offer letter says.
If you are already on board and something feels wrong about the vessel’s cover, DGMA’s e-Navik 24×7 grievance mechanism exists for exactly this.
None of this makes you difficult to work with. An agency that treats these questions as an inconvenience is telling you something useful.
For RPSL companies and shipowners: a working checklist
- Pull the current entry status for every vessel you have Indian crew on right now.
- Sort each one into: IG club, DGMA-approved non-IG, or neither.
- For the “neither” pile, decide within the month whether you are buying the ₹1 crore per-seafarer cover or arranging sign-off and repatriation.
- Build the verification step into your pre-deployment process, and make sure it produces a record. The order asks for evidence of verification, not just the certificate.
- Get your certificate filing into a state where any of it can be produced within seven working days.
- Report any non-compliance to DGMA within one month, with the action taken.
Where to read the primary sources
- DGMA Order 22 of 2026 (28 August 2026) – the order itself, on dgma.gov.in
- DGS Order 08 of 2026 (14 May 2026) – abandonment prevention, the order this builds on
- DGMA Maritime Insurance page – the current approved non-IG insurer list
- Merchant Shipping (Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers) Rules, 2016
- MLC 2006, Standard A1.4 – the international provision underneath all of this
We would encourage anyone acting on this to read the order directly. It is four pages.