National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying has organised a one-day Workshop with Bankers in Eastern & North Eastern Region States on Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) & Entrepreneurship model under PMMSY today at Assam Administrative Staff College, Guwahati.
The workshop aims to focus on the bottlenecks being faced by Entrepreneurs and Private investors in accessing the bank finance, the procedure of bank loan sanction and repayments, the Interest Subvention granted, the participation of the cooperative sector and the role played by the State /UT governments etc.

Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF)
- The Government of India has launched the FIDF scheme to create fisheries infrastructures both in the Marine and Inland fisheries sector with an aim to increase fish production in the country.
- The scheme was launched in 2018 to be implemented in 5 years FY2018-19 to FY2022-23.
- FIDF entails an estimated fund size of Rs. 7,522 crore.
- The projects under the FIDF are eligible for loans up to 80% of the estimated/actual project cost with interest subvention up to 3%.
Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY)
- In the year 2020, the Prime Minister launched PMMSY with a budget of over Rs. 20,050 crores for a period of five years.
- PMMSY aims to achieve fish production of 22 MMT by 2024-25 and to create an additional employment opportunity for about 55 lakh people through this sector.
- The PMMSY aims at doubling export earning from Rs. 46,000 crore in 2018-19 to Rs. 1,00,000 crore in 2024-25.
- The Entrepreneur Model provides thrust for infusing new and emerging technologies in fisheries and aquaculture while creating a conducive environment for private sector participation, development of entrepreneurship, business models, promotion of ease of doing business, innovations and innovative project activities including start-ups, incubators etc.
In the inaugural session Shri. M.Arul Bosco Prakash, ED, NFDB and Shri. Pradeep Mehrotra, Chief General Manager, NABARD discussed about the
sanctions accorded for Government projects. Shri. Shio Shankar Singh, General Manager – Punjab National Bank, SLBC West Bengal & Tripura and Shri. Kamlesh Kumar Singh, Deputy General Manager – ABU, State Bank of India mentioned about the importance of Fisheries loans for NE states. Dr C Suvarna IFS, Chief Executive, NFDB in her address mentioned about the importance of support to be provided by the banking sector for sanctioning loan under these two schemes.
Around 70 participants attended the workshop which includes the participation of higher officials from 15 scheduled banks and 7 Regional Rural Banks of Eastern & North Eastern Region, Officials from 8 state fisheries department (Odisha, Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura and Mizoram), entrepreneurs and other stakeholders. Nationalised Banks and institutes such as NABARD, NCDC, SLBC, and Lead Banks of the Public sector & Private sector participated in the event.
