By:- Utham Gowda, Founder, Captain Fresh.
“We need to uniquely position India to lead in the next wave of global protein demand. In the 1960s, we fought for calorie security In 2026, we must aim for protein sovereignty. If we don’t own the protein chain, we will keep exporting commodities and importing value.
Seafood is India’s proof-of-concept that we can climb the agri-value chain. It sits within a 600 billion global protein economy and has already demonstrated that India can produce at scale for some of the world’s most demanding markets. The next unlock is downstream.
The Union Budget 2026–27 can accelerate this shift with three levers. One, a brand India fund to make India-origin seafood a premium label. Two, a value-added processing PLI to move from frozen raw to table-ready formats, where pricing power sits. Three, incentivising AI-led traceability and preventive quality at source can strengthen access to high-compliance markets while improving realisation per tonne.
As India tracks toward a 5 trillion economy by FY 2028–29, value-added protein exports can become a strategic engine to build foreign exchange strength and employment density in the agri-food sector. Recognising protein as a strategic export category within India’s roadmap, we can become a premium nutritional partner to the developed economies. We should not approach this as just trade; it is an industrial policy by design.”
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