Seafood Exports To Touch Nearly Rs 64,000 Crore Last Fiscal: Rupala

Seafood exports have more than doubled since 2013-14 and touched nearly Rs 64,000 crore last fiscal Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Parshottam Rupala on Wednesday said.

"While the seafood exports stood at Rs 30,213 crore in 2013-14, the same has increased to Rs 63,969.14 crore during FY 2022-23, an increase of 111.73% in spite of pandemic-imposed challenges in global markets," an official statement said.

Indian seafood is exported to 129 countries, with the largest importer being the U.S.

"In fact, the value of the cumulative exports for the 9-year period of 2014-15 to 2022-23 stood at Rs 3.41 lakh crore as against Rs 1.20 lakh crore for the 9-year preceding 2014-15 i.e. the period 2005-06 to 2013-14," the statement said.

The minister informed that during the last 9 years, the annual fish production of India has increased from 95.79 lakh tonne (at the end of 2013-14) to an all-time record of 162.48 lakh tonne (at the end of 2021-22) -- an increase of 66.69 lakh tonne.

Further, national fish production for 2022-23 is also expected to touch or exceed 174 lakh tonne (provisional figures), an 81% increase when compared to 2013-14.

The fisheries sector in India has shown a sustained annual average growth rate of 8.61% for the 8-year period from 2014-15 to 2021-22 (at constant prices).

During the eight-year period from 2014-15 to 2021-22, the GVA of the Fisheries Sector has increased from Rs 76,487 crore in 2013-14 to 1,47,518.87 crore (at constant prices) and from 98,189.64 crore in 2013-14 to 2,88,526.19 crore in 2021-22 (at current prices).

The sector contributes 1.069% to the National GVA and 6.86% to Agriculture GVA.

Rupala informed that the government has extended the KCC facility to fishers and fish farmers from the financial year 2018-19 to help them meet their working capital requirements. To date, 1,42,458 KCC cards have been issued to fishers and fish farmers.