No plan to shift MPEDA headquarters from Kochi: Goyal

Union Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said there was no plan to shift the headquarters of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) from Kerala to Andhra Pradesh.

Rejecting the reports, Goyal said the statutory body under the Union Commerce and Industries Ministry will continue to operate from this southern coastal city.

''There is absolutely no plan to shift MPEDA from this beautiful city of Cochin and we have a very large set up here and it will continue to grow from strength to strength'', the Minister told reporters reacting to a query after holding separate stakeholder consultations with leaders of fishermen and marine exporters here.

Recently, MPs from Kerala, Hibi Eden, and T N Prathapan had met Goyal in New Delhi to impress upon him the requirement for maintaining the MPEDA headquarters in Kochi.

Goyal said he had extensive discussions with fishermen from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Karnataka on the good work being done by them on sustainable traditional fishing.

He said the fishermen also submitted several memorandums and it will help the government in its upcoming consultations with the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Talking about his consultations with the marine exporters, the minister said in the year 2021-22, India had a record export of fish and fish-related products.

Marine products worth over Rs 50,000 crore were exported from India last year, he said.

He said the government is hoping to double it to Rs 1 lakh crore in the next five years, the minister added.