Aquaculture has emerged as a strategic pillar of India’s food security, with production nearly doubling over the past decade, driven largely by inland aquaculture and policy support such as PMMSY. As the sector intensifies, the focus is shifting from volumes to value, placing aquafeed—its cost, efficiency, sustainability, and traceability—at the centre of farm economics and global competitiveness. The article explores how alternative proteins, precision nutrition, and certification-linked feed innovation can help Indian farmers reduce risk, improve margins, and access premium export markets. Authored by Ankit Alok Bagaria, CEO & Co-Founder, Loopworm, it argues that the future of India’s Blue Revolution will be decided not by how much fish is produced, but by how intelligently and sustainably it is fed.

India currently produces 195 lakh tonnes of fish. This is almost double of what we produced a decade ago. Powering this rise is inland aquaculture. Fishes like rohu, catla, mrigal, tilapia, trout, seabass and coastal shrimps have expanded this rise by 140 per cent.

The biggest push has come from policy. The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) for instance supports 60 lakh livelihoods through Rs 20,000 crore investment. This momentum also translates at state level with Tamil Nadu, committing Rs 1,100 crore to MSME hubs and aquaculture infrastructure. The push toward intensive systems with biofloc, Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS), and cage culture is accelerating.

Metrics that really matter – volume to value

In recent years, the story has shifted from how much can India produce to how sustainably can India produce it. As farms scale and intensify, feed, which makes up 60–70 per cent of production costs, has moved to the centre of the conversation, prompting farmers to ask sharper questions: How efficiently does it convert to harvest weight? How stable is it in water? Can it reduce mortality?

These questions are already reshaping on-ground practices. Floating extruded feeds let farmers observe consumption and cut waste, critical in densely stocked ponds. Stronger pellets work better with mechanical feeders, now widespread in pangasius, seabass, and shrimp farms, helping maintain both survival rates and water quality.

Performance, however, is only half the story. Fishmeal prices are volatile, deep-sea fishing not only has ecological consequences but also economic ones, meanwhile soybean cultivation is a drain on land and water. That’s why feed which goes into the ponds are becoming the anchor point of conversations. From plant protein concentrates to insect meals, from single-cell proteins to microbial biomass, and algae oils, the industry is innovating. The evidence is promising: across species, trials show that formulators can replace 20–30 per cent of marine proteins in shrimp and salmon diets without compromising growth.

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