Setting up of fisheries dept to help boost marine product exports: FIEO

Exporters body FIEO Friday said setting up of a separate department of fisheries will help boost exports of marine products, which has crossed USD 7 billion market.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Ganesh Kumar Gupta said the exports of marine products are expected reach USD 10 billion by 2020-21.

Presenting the Interim Budget for 2019-20 in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said to provide sustained and focused attention, the government has decided to create a separate department of fisheries.

The main marine products being exported by India include frozen fish, frozen squid, and shrimp.

India is the second largest fish producing nation in the world, accounting for 6.3 per cent of global production. The sector provides livelihood to about 1.45 crore people.

Gupta also said that the introduction of comprehensive digitalisation of export/import transactions and use of RFID technology will not only reduce the time taken in movement of Exim cargo, but will also help in identifying the bottlenecks so as to plug them for seamless movement.

Reduction in logistics cost will help enhance competitiveness of domestic products in global markets.