LINAC – NCDC Fisheries Business Incubation Centre

The LINAC – NCDC Fisheries Business Incubation Centre (LIFIC) was launched in Gurugram, Haryana. The centre is first of its kind in the country. It was established at a cost of Rs 3.23 crores.

What are the key features of LIFIC?

• The centre will provide handholding such as converting entrepreneurial ideas into business models, training and doling out seed money to new and existing business entrepreneurs.
• The National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) is the implementing agency of the scheme.
• The first batch of ten incubates have been identified from four states namely Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Bihar. Out of these, six are from newly created fish farmer producer organisations.

What are the benefits of LIFIC?

The centre will help to push the income of the fisheries business stakeholders. This will be a great push to the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana. The scheme was launched to reduce the infrastructural gaps in the fisheries sector.

Why was LIFIC launched?

Fisheries is a sunrise industry in India. It is currently (as of November 2021) growing at 7% per annum. The Government of India has set a goal of achieving 22 million tonnes of fish production by 2025. Also, the GoI aims to increase the export of fishes to one lakh crores of rupees by 2025. Currenty, the fish production in the country is 13 million tonnes and the fish exports are 46,000 lakh crores of rupees. Thus, LIFIC will help achieve the targets.

How will LIFIC support the “cooperative factor” in the fisheries?

The Government of India has recently established the Ministry of Cooperation. The Ministry is operating in a fast pace to establish cooperatives in different sectors. This includes fisheries as well. Launching LIFIC at this time will help to boost the upcoming cooperatives in the fisheries. Also, the Government of India is to provide cards similar to that of Kisan Credit Cards to the fishermen. All these measures will uplift the fisheries sector in the country. This eventually will help India in achieving self-reliance.