India gravitates toward Gujarati hilsa as Bangladeshi imports stall: Economic Times

Buyers are taking Hilsa home without knowing where it’s sourced from, a report says

The hilsa on Indian dinner plates is more likely to have come from Gujarat’s Bharuch than from the traditional sources of West Bengal or Bangladesh, reports the Economic Times.

According to the newspaper, Bharuch supplied a record 4,000 tonnes of hilsa in July and August, as imports from Bangladesh are yet to begin, and West Bengal’s catch has dwindled to less than half of what it produced in 2024.

Fish from the Narmada River, which migrates from the Arabian Sea, is now reaching Kolkata before being distributed to cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai.

“This time around 4,000 tonnes of hilsa have arrived from Bharuch, which is the highest in the last many years,” Syed Anwar Maqsood, secretary of the Howrah Wholesale Fish Market, told the Economic Times.

With West Bengal’s production down sharply from 260,000 tonnes in 2020, traders said Myanmar had been their backup source for Hilsa.

At Kolkata’s Gariahat market, fish seller Tapan Karmakar noted that customers are eating hilsa from Bharuch without realising where it comes from.

The Economic Times cited experts as saying that overfishing in the Bay of Bengal, weak enforcement, poorly designed barrages, climate change, and erratic monsoons have intensified supply shortages.

Indian importers are pushing for Bangladesh hilsa, especially the prized Padma variety.

Maqsood, also secretary of the Fish Importers Association, said they had written to Bangladeshi Foreign Affairs Advisor Touhid Hossain, seeking permission for exports ahead of Durga Puja.

“Even the exporters from Bangladesh are keen to send hilsa to India, but the government needs to give permission,” he said to the Economic Times.

Last year, Bangladesh allowed 2,420 tonnes of exports in September, but only 577 tonnes reached India within the one-month window, Maqsood added.