The Indian Coast Guard is a multi-mission organization, conducting round-the-year real-life operations at sea. Despite being relatively small, it has a wide range of task capabilities for both surface and air operations.

The organization is headed by the Director General Indian Coast Guard (DGICG) exercising his overall command and superintendence from the Coast Guard Headquarters (CGHQ) located at New Delhi. At CGHQ, he is assisted by four Deputy Director Generals of the rank of Inspector General, and other senior officers heading various staff divisions.

For effective command and control, the Maritime Zones of India are divided into five Coast Guard Regions, namely, North-West, West, East, North-East and Andaman & Nicobar, with the respective Regional Headquarters located at Gandhinagar, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Port Blair. The Coast Guard Regions are commanded by Officers of the rank of Inspector General.

To ensure that quality resource is available to the Coast Guard, the benchmark for the recruitment of officer and EPs is set high, right from the screening stage. The selection process is stringent, and ensures that only the most suitable candidates are inducted into the service.

The Coast Guard has a dedicated and professional team of officers and enrolled personnel.