Blue Economy Is Central To India's Growth: PM Modi

(MENAFN- IANS) New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday highlighted that the Blue Economy is central to India's growth, combining prosperity, sustainability and national strength.

Initiatives like Sagarmala, Deep Ocean Mission and Harit Sagar Guidelines to harness ocean resources are empowering communities, driving innovation and strengthening India's leadership in global ocean governance, PM Modi stated.

The Prime Minister was responding on X to a post by Union Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh who wrote the article.

The article states that with a revised coastline stretching now over 11,098 kms and a vast Exclusive Economic Zone spanning 2.4 square million kms, India is exceptionally well-placed to build a $100 billion growth engine through a sustainable use of ocean resources - creating jobs, supporting coastal communities, protecting marine ecosystems and strengthening our global maritime presence,

“We are now in Blue Economy 2.0 focusing just not on traditional sectors but also the emerging. High-potential areas that will define our future growth. For example the Deep Ocean Mission is helping our scientists explore the deep sea using the Matsya submersible. Aiming to find strategic resources and create new technologies for the future. The Sagarmala Programme is modernising our ports to make our trade more efficient and our business more competitive. For our coastal communities, the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) is a flagship scheme to bring a blue revolution to our fisheries sector,” Singh said.

But our vision goes far beyond this. It empowers people and protects our planet. It includes creation of new opportunities for the empowerment of women, by encouraging them to lead in sustainable fields like seaweed farming and eco-friendly tourism, providing them new income streams and a greater voice in their communities, he added.

The PMMSY scheme completed five years of its launch on September 10, 2020 as a landmark initiative that has ushered in the“Blue Revolution” in India's fisheries sector, with the country becoming the second largest fish producer in the world.

The scheme has enabled India to achieve record fish production of 195 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, a sharp rise from 141.64 lakh tonnes in 2019–20, contributing nearly 8 per cent of global fish production.

India's fisheries exports have shown robust growth, increasing from Rs 46,662.85 crore in 2019–20 to Rs 60,524.89 crore in 2023–24, strengthening the country's position in the global seafood market.

PMMSY has also succeeded in creating 58 lakh employment opportunities as of December, 2024, surpassing the target of 55 lakh. It has also led to the empowerment of 99,018 women through an outlay of Rs 4,061.96 crore sanctioned from 2020–21 to 2024–25, the statement said.

The scheme has been working towards making the fisheries sector ecologically healthy, economically viable and socially inclusive by addressing critical gaps in production and productivity, quality, technology infusion, and post-harvest infrastructure.

PMMSY promotes women's participation in fisheries by providing up to 60 per cent of total project cost as financial assistance (up to Rs 1.5 crore per project) under beneficiary-oriented activities and the entrepreneur model.

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