Union Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal inaugurated e-SANTA, an electronic marketplace providing a platform to connect aqua farmers and buyers. It will enable farmers to get a better price and exporters to directly purchase quality products from farmers enhancing traceability. The term e-SANTA means Electronic Solution for Augmenting NaCSA farmers’ Trade in Aquaculture. National Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture (NaCSA) is an extension arm of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Govt. of India, Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

The Ministry said that e-SANTA will raise income, lifestyle, self-reliance, quality levels, traceability and provide new options for aqua farmers. He said that the platform will change the traditional way of carrying out business from a word of mouth basis to become more formalized and legally binding. 

e-SANTA will revolutionize traditional aquafarming by providing cashless, contactless and paperless electronic trade platform between farmers and exporters, according to the Ministry. “e-SANTA can become a tool to advertise collectively the kind of products buyers, fishermen and fish producing organizations are harvesting, so people in India and internationally can know what is available and in the future, it can become an auction platform.”

e-SANTA is a completely paperless and end-to-end electronic trade platform between farmers and exporters. Farmers can list their products and quote their price while exporters have can list their requirements and also choose the products based on their requirements such as desired size, location, harvest dates, etc. This enables both parties to have greater control over the trade and enables them to make informed decisions.