Fisheries push shifts to value addition, backed by ₹39,272 crore since 2015

India's fisheries policy is moving its focus from how much fish the country catches and farms to what happens after the catch: processing, packaging, cold chains and selling, according to a backgrounder from the Department of Fisheries.

Since 2015, the government has committed ₹39,272 crore to the sector through schemes including the Blue Revolution Scheme, the Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF), the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Samridhi Sah Yojana (PM-MKSSY) and the Kisan Credit Card. The department says these are meant to create jobs and livelihoods for 74.66 lakh fishers and fish farmers.

Why value addition

Value addition means turning fish into processed, packaged, branded, ready-to-cook or ready-to-eat products. The department says it helps producers get better prices, cuts post-harvest losses, extends shelf life and creates work for fishers, women's groups, youth, cooperatives and small firms in processing, logistics and retail.

The numbers

• 46,500 facilities — transport systems, fish markets, kiosks, feed mills, ice plants, cold storages and value-added units — added with an investment of ₹3,393.85 crore.
• Five modern "smart" fish markets under development, expected to create 15,900 jobs.
• 2,195 Fisheries Farmer Producer Organisations (FFPOs) formed, several linked to the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).
• 5,500 fisheries cooperatives being strengthened to work as FFPOs under PM-MKSSY.
• More than 1.28 lakh women have benefited from PMMSY projects worth over ₹4,155 crore (central share ₹1,572 crore) approved in the last five years.

Women and small producers

The department says women are a vital force in post-harvest work. PMMSY support has helped them take up fish drying, pickles and papad, smoked fish, fish powder, packaging and retail, while mobile fish vending units and micro-processing units provide livelihoods in coastal, inland and north-eastern states.

To help small fishers overcome limits of scale and capital, producer groups pool output and sell together, working with agencies such as the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) and NAFED.

Better fish to start with

The department has also taken up genetic improvement work to develop faster-growing, more disease-resistant fish. It expects this to support supplies of high-value species such as trout, shrimp, catla, rohu, tilapia, pangasius, seabass and scampi.

What the backgrounder does not say

This is a summary of policy direction, not a new announcement. It gives no figures for current fish production, export earnings or post-harvest losses, so readers cannot yet judge how far the shift to value addition has gone.

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Source: official release by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, issued through the Press Information Bureau, Government of India (30 OCT 2026 7:55AM by PIB Delhi). Read the full official text: Fisheries Sector Looks Beyond Production: Fish Value Addition Enterprises and Mobile Marketing Set to Transform High-Value India’s Blue Economy.