Hyderabad startup SmartGreen Aquaculture sets up India's 1st inland trout farming project in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: SmartGreen Aquaculture (SGA), a Hyderabad-based startup, has set up what is touted as India’s first inland, premium trout farming facility in Kandukur mandal of Telangana’s Ranga Reddy district, on the outskirts of Hyderabad, at an initial investment of $6 million (approx.

Rs 54 crore).The facility, based on the sustainable recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) technology that enables year-round trout production in a controlled, biosecure indoor environment, will have a total production capacity of 1200 metric tonnes per annum and will create around 200 jobs.The facility houses a dedicated two-acre hatchery and indoor grow-out system operated under RAS, on-site processing for value-added rainbow trout products, cold-chain facilities as well as an online store to deliver directly to consumers.The company also plans to set up a flexi-scale premium microalgae biorefinery on the farm campus in addition to a skill centre for RAS.Inaugurating the first phase of the aquaculture farm and research institute, Union minister for fisheries, animal husbandry & dairying and Panchayati Raj, Rajiv Ranjan Singh (Lalan Singh) termed smart green aquaculture as a shining example of the innovation driving the country’s startup ecosystem.

He said SGA’s harnessing of advanced technology to farm cold-water fish in warmer climate of a region like the Deccan Plateau was a remarkable feat akin to extracting oil from sand. He said the RAS technology increases production manifold and helps create high value products that have the potential to contribute greatly to exports.Union mines minister G Kishan Reddy said such innovative projects that can cultivate specialised fish species in warmer inland regions reflect the promising future of Indian aquaculture.“Trout farming in India has traditionally been limited by geography. Our precision engineered trout farm demonstrates that advanced closed-loop water system aquaculture technologies using RAS successfully brings premium cold-water species like rainbow trout closer to Indian consumers,” said 31-year-old engineer-turned-aquaculture entrepreneur Aditya Rithvik Narra, who is the founder and managing director of Smart Green Aquaculture.“By integrating hatcheries, farming, processing, and e-commerce under one roof, we are reducing dependence on imports and intermediaries,” he explained.