India exported about 2 million tonnes of seafood worth $8.46 billion in FY26, reports RT India
Farmers in the landlocked northern regions of India, the world’s second largest fish-farming country, have turned to aquaculture, boosting the South Asian nation’s shrimp exports amid India’s Blue Revolution.
Shrimp exports accounted for 66% of India’s total seafood sales worth 8.46 billion dollars last year, according to official data.
Farmers, who once grew wheat and rice, carefully balance minerals like potassium and magnesium to recreate the seawater conditions hundreds of kilometers from the coast, according to a report by RT India.
The Blue Revolution is about the expansion of aquaculture around the world. In India, this has led to a boom in fish farming in northern states like Haryana, which has struggled with brackish groundwater and fields unable to grow traditional crops for years.
The state produced more than 14,000 tonnes of lobster last year alone.
“We started with 8.5 acres and invested about $93,000 in it. We paid all those expenses in the first season by selling about $100,000 worth of shrimp,” a farmer from Sonipat district said.
“There is no shortage of buyers,” He said.
These farms also produce other types of fish. Haryana produced more than 200,000 tonnes of seafood last year.
Aquafarmers also receive financial incentives from the government to build ponds, install equipment, and adopt modern fish farming techniques.
A farmer can harvest up to four to five tons of shrimp in just four months, making a profit of up to $10,000.
Other northern states of India including Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan – all of which are hundreds of kilometers from the sea – also contribute to the increase in seafood exports in the country.
The main buyers are the United States and China, followed by Russia and the European Union.
You can share this story on social networks:
Follow RT on
