Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Parshottam Rupala inaugurated the country’s first-of-its-kind, dedicated fisheries business incubator to be known as LINAC- NCDC Fisheries Business Incubation Centre (LlFlC) in Gurugram on Tuesday.
It aims to encourage initiatives among entrepreneurs providing them handholding in the fisheries sector to move towards Atma Nirbharta. The incubator costs Rs 3.23 crore.
In his address, Union Minister Rupala said that the incubation unit would provide hand holding such as training, converting entrepreneurial ideas into business models and doling out seed money to the new as well as the existing business entrepreneurs associated with cooperatives keen to make big in the segment.
“This Centre will serve as a ‘milestone’ in future for the fisheries sector which is being given a big push under the central flagship Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) launched last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ”, he added.
On the occasion, the Minister said the presence of cooperatives in the fisheries sector is very less, unlike in other sectors like dairy and agriculture where co-ops are quite active. “To strengthen the cooperative movement of India, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created a separate Ministry of Cooperation, so that cooperatives in various sectors including fisheries help in achieving the Prime Minister’s vision of Atmanirbhata (self-reliance)”, Rupala asserted.
Besides, we are also in the process of starting a drive to provide credit cards on the lines of Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) to the fishermen and those involved in the livestock business as well, he informed.
Addressing the gathering, Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Dr L Murugan said that the Centre would ensure that the fisheries sector does not function as usual but helps push the income of the stakeholders. He mentioned various innovative steps taken for the first time including setting up of the fisheries incubation centre under the guidance of the Prime Minister for all-round development of society.
“Fisheries is a sunrise industry in India, growing at 7 per cent annually. The Prime Minister has set a goal of 22 million tonnes of fish production and export to the tune of Rs one lakh crore by 2025. It is a very tall order to be achieved within the next four years given that presently, fish production is 130 lakh tonnes and export is worth Rs 46,000 crore,” Jitendra Nath Swain, Union Fisheries Secretary added.
To begin with, the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), an implementing agency for the LIFIC, has identified the first batch of ten incubates from four states—Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Out of them, 6 are from the newly-created Fish Farmers Producer Organizations with the support of the financial grant under the PMMSY.
Swain said, “Setting up this first business incubation centre for fisheries in India is a step in this direction to
achieve the ambitious goal. We need to work on promoting lots of innovation for startups, incentives and encouraging cooperatives in the fisheries sector to achieve the set targets”.
Overall, there are around 30,000 cooperatives in the fisheries sector.
In his speech, NCDC MD Sundeep Nayak said, “It’s a purely business centre and not merely a technology centre or accelerator. This unique initiative shall primarily focus on converting entrepreneurial ideas into business models and then support the launch of business operations. LIFIC shall also handhold the enterprises while negotiating a myriad of market dynamics with the aim of resulting in sustainable revenue generation and business operations in the sector”, he asserted.
One critical input, credit linkage, may be provided to the successful incubators who can avail financial assistance from NCDC. On the sidelines of the event, Rupala also inaugurated Sardar Patel Auditorium at the LINAC premises.
Former Union Fisheries Secretary, Dr. Rajeev Ranjan, Aromamagic, Chair, Blossom Kochar, Chief Executive, NFDB, Dr C Suvarna, Director of NEDAC Bangkok, Dr KR Salin and Sahakar Bharati National President Ramesh Vaidya and others were present on the occasion.
The event was also live on NCDC Sahakar CoopTube Channel and on NCDC Facebook Live.
