Sea Food export Industry in India is almost 50 years old. India has ranked fourth biggest seafood exporter in the world. According to Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Shri Som Parkash, India’s government drew up the goal of making India the world’s top seafood exporter. Presently, India has a major stand in the Global Seafood market and is one of the biggest foreign exchange earners. Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), which is the statutory body functioning under the Department of Commerce, promotes the exports of all varieties of fishery products and also takes necessary steps for marketing the seafood overseas such as promotion of deep-sea fishing projects through test fishing, joint ventures and up gradation & installation of equipments to increase the efficiency of fishing. It exports varieties of fish, cuttlefish, octopus, clams, mussels and Crustaceanssuch as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimps, prawns. Indian fisheries and aquaculture is an important sector with high growth rates and plays a major role in terms of food production. It has provided employment to 14.5 million people. The total exports from India in the seafood sector comprises of around 10% and over 50 different types of marine products are exported to 75 countries across the world.  

During the pandemic, India exported 12, 89,651 tonnes of seafood which is worth $6.68 billion (Rs. 46662.85 crore). Currently, it has reduced by 6% as compared to the previous year (2018-19) which was 12.06%. However, shrimp production has remained the major export which shows an increase of 17%, the total production of last year of shrimp was 6%, that is 52,626.42 tonnes and in current year it has the same amount of production in just 9 months. In 2020-21, U.S.A remained the largest importer (291948.08 MT), followed by China (218343.06 MT), EU (152769.73 MT), Japan (86764.08 MT), South East Asia (217686.42 MT) and Middle East Asia (48606.32 MT).

Market Wise Export Data (Seafood exported from India in last 5 years)

Quantity (in metric tonnes) & Value (in crore)

Due to the pandemic many orders got cancelled or reduced or the payments were delayed and also there was slowdown of cargo movement. The country’s exports of marine products fell by 10.88% and the exports slowed down in the overseas markets. During April-December of FY20-21, Exports to China have seen 40% decline and the volume is seen lower by 36% and U.S.A has shown a decline of 20.54% in volume as compared to last year. It is due to strict covid-19 security by the government as shipments were closed and there was no movement allowed during the pandemic which caused delay in payment as advance payment given by importers was less and final payment was made only after completing the covid-19 clearance tests. Most of the seafood consuming countries like Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal and France are suffering and they have asked India to stop sending shipments till further notice.

In an interview K S Srinivas, Chairman of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), recently said that India missed the $7 billion target. However, Exports will increase as lockdown have been eased globally. He added that MPEDA’s vision is to take Indian seafood exports to Rupees one lakh crore by 2030. On March 2021, Aquaculture tech firm Aquaconnect has partnered with Alliance Insurance Brokers, an insurance programme for shrimp farmers. Under this partnership, Aquaconnect will provide risk management services to the insurance partners that include data collection, ground validation. This partnership will be beneficial to 1.5 lakh shrimp farmers in India.

As restrictions are eased by the Government and Marine Products exports Development Authority (MPEDA) is planning to encourage fresh entrepreneurs to improve the exports, as in international market the demand for Indian seafood is high. MPEDA officials are recognizing potential areas, improving the area of cultivation and increase shrimp, crab and fish production and to develop more ports to boost the exports. Private growers and fish hatcheries are requested to come into aquaculture and MPEDA is ready to share the technology and give necessary training to the farmers. The chairman OF MPEDA, K S Srinavas said that MPEDA have entered Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and other states to improve the aquaculture and to improve the exports. With all these provisions exports will come back to track soon and it is predicted that India fish market will reach INR 1821 Billion in 2023.