India’s agriculture and allied sector grew at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 4 percent in GVA terms from Financial Year 2014-15 (FY 15) to FY 25. Within the agriculture and allied sectors, fisheries have emerged as the fastest-growing segment, termed a key “sunrise sector,” registering a staggering 8.7 percent AAGR in gross value added (GVA) during FY 15 to FY 24 at 2011-12 prices. Within fisheries sector, the share of inland fisheries has risen from 52 percent in 2001-02 to 75 percent in 2024-25 (DoF, 2025). Notably, inland aquaculture particularly shrimp farming has been a major driver of this growth. Given the rapid growth of fisheries and aquaculture within agriculture and allied sectors, this report focuses on the aquaculture sector to examine its potential and constraints in augmenting farmers’ income. Aquaculture has increasingly emerged as an important livelihood strategy in the Global South, including India, with the capacity to improve income stability for smallholder farmers facing declining returns from traditional crop agriculture (Chapter 1).
Placing India’s experience in the global context, the report shows that China remains the dominant producer of fisheries, accounting for 39.7 per cent of global production in the triennium ending (TE) 2023, followed by Indonesia (10.1 per cent) and India (7.1 per cent). India’s fisheries production reached 19.5 MMT in FY 2025 comparable to China’s production levels in the early 1990s, highlighting both progress and untapped potential (FAO, 2025, latest data available). Over the past two decades, inland fisheries production in India has increased more than four-fold, from 3.21 MMT in 2002–03 to 14.7 MMT in 2024–25. India ranks third in total fisheries production but second in inland aquaculture, after China. Despite ranking second globally in inland aquaculture, India accounts for only about 15 per cent of global production, compared to China’s dominant 56 per cent share in value, indicating a significant gap in productivity and scale. Frozen shrimp has emerged as the single most important driver of India’s fisheries exports, while aquaculture growth remains spatially concentrated—particularly in Andhra Pradesh, which contributes 34 per cent of inland fisheries production and 44 per cent of national fisheries GVA in 2023–24 (Chapter 2). The uneven regional spread of aquaculture raises the policy challenge of replicating this cluster model across other states.
