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Govt. eyeing 22 million tonnes of fish production & Rs. one lakh crore export by 2025
Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Shri Parshottam Rupala on November 16 inaugurated the country’s first-of-its kind, dedicated business incubator to be known as LINAC- NCDC Fisheries Business Incubation Centre (LlFlC) in Haryana’s Gurugram costing Rs. 3.23 crore to nurture fisheries start-ups under real market-led conditions.
Stating that the Centre will serve as a ‘milestone’ in future for the fisheries sector which is being given a big push under the central flagship Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) launched last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shri Rupala said that the incubation unit will provide handholding such as training, converting entrepreneurial ideas into business models and doling out seed money to the new as well as existing business entrepreneurs keen to make big in the segment.
To begin with, the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), an implementing agency for the LIFIC, has identified the first batch of ten incubatees from four states—Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Out of them, 6 are from newly-created Fish Farmers Producer Organizations with the support of the financial grant under the PMMSY.
“Fisheries is a sunrise industries in India, growing at 7 percent rate annually. The Prime Minister has set a goal of 22 million tonnes of fish production and export to the tune of Rs one lakh crore by 2025. It is a very tall order to be achieved within next four years given that presently, fish production is 130 lakh tones and export worth Rs 46,000 crore.