India’s Seafood Exports Up By Over 30% In Last 5 Yrs: Centre

India’s seafood exports have registered a growth of 30.81 per cent in the last five years and increased from Rs 46,662.85 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 61,043.68 crore in 2023-24, said the Union Minister of State (MoS) for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada.

The country’s maritime production in the last five years from 2019-20 to 2023-24 stands at 809.52 lakh tonne.

There has been an upward trend in this segment as the country managed to achieve a production of 175.45 lakh tonne in 2022-23, from 141.64 lakh tonne in 2019-20. The numbers for 2023-24 have been projected to be around 182.7 lakh tonne, the minister stated in the written reply in Rajya Sabha on Friday.

As far as the exports are concerned, India has exported 74.68 lakh tonne of marine products in the last five years, with the numbers in 2023-24 proving to be the highest during the period. In 2023-24 India exported 18.19 lakh tonne of marine products, as compared to 13.29 lakh tonne during 2019-20.

Recently, the centre notified about the reduction in import duties on various ingredients and inputs for the manufacture of prawn and shrimp fish to make Indian seafood-based value-added products more competitive and eventually lead to an increase in exports. The reduction includes from 15 per cent to Nil on fish lipid oil (HS 1504 20) and algal prime flour (HS 2102 2000), from 30 per cent to Nil on crude fish oil and pre-dust breaded powder and many more.

Furthermore, the centre has increased the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) from 2.5 per cent to 3.1 per cent for various seafood products to encourage exports.

The MoS stated in his response that the department of fisheries is also implementing Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) with an investment of over Rs 20,050 crore for five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 to encourage exports from the fisheries sector.