Fisheries and Aquaculture make for an import-ant source of food production, employment and income, and nutritional security in India. The fisheries sector in India has immense potential which goes untapped, creating a gap in the demand-supply chain. This was realized by Shruti-ka Shridhar who is the Co-Founder of India Fish Co. which delivers fresh fish and seafood by procuring di-rectly from the fishermen.

Shrutika has a degree in law and is an entrepreneur who hopes to harness the potential that the fishing in-dustry has to offer in India. She was selected for Gold-man Sachs 10,000 Women Entrepreneurship program in IIM Bangalore and India Fish Co. was also awarded Times Food Delivery Icons for Most Iconic Seafood Brand in South Delhi in 2021 as well as was identi-fied as a high potential emerging brand by YOURSTO-RY when it was listed one of the 500 D2C Challenger Brands across India in 2022.

In an in-depth conversation with Women Entrepre-neur magazine, Shrutika shares with us her profes-sional journey and the various lessons she has gath-ered on the way. Here is an excerpt from the interview.

Tell us about your professional journey and prior industry experience that you bring to the table and what inspired you to establish India Fish Company.

After completing my graduation in Psychology from James Cook University in Singapore, I decide to pursue law. I have practiced law from 2019-2021 and it was during the COVID lockdown that I got on Zoma-to to order some Fish curry for my mother and grilled fish for myself. This made me realize that these two dishes couldn’t be sourced from a single outlet in Del-hi despite the great demand for fish and seafood. That got me by surprise and the journey towards India Fish Co. happened organically. We started with the idea of establishing a one-stop shop for fish and started as a cloud kitchen or a delivery-only kitchen and it took off very well. Post that, we decided to do some re-pivoting and went into supplying raw fish and sea food, setting up a retail store and e-commerce website and explor-ing the import and export market.

What are some of your expertise as a business leader that you bring to the table and how do you align yourself with the industry trends and technologies?

My work experience from the past as a lawyer has trained me to get into the depth of everything, do re-search thoroughly, keep an open mind and consider all viewpoints. Not coming from a business back-ground educationally has been a boon for me because I brought different skill sets to the table and am able to work with people from different backgrounds. For me the journey has been about overcoming obstacles be it professional or mental blocks and the most funda-mental learning that I have gathered is that one might not know everything so, sometimes just getting the hands dirty and doing the work will teach you a lot.

Having the right team is crucial since one cannot function alone so you need the right people to call out your bluff from time to time, to ground you and sup-port your journey. When people come together and work towards a common goal, they enable each oth-er to act independently, and everything synchroniz-es and works out well. I believe in constant learning about myself and the industry and keeping up with the new trends.

What are some of the responsibilities that you shoulder as the Co-Founder of India Fish Co. and what are the primary area of focus to drive organizational growth? As the Founder one has to wear many different hats at one time. The roles might be demarcated but on any given day it depends on what the day holds for me, and it could range from legal compliance and due dili-gence to marketing and meeting people.

We want to be known as the one-stop shop and bridge the gap between demand and supply by having a seamless logistics supply chain in place. We believe that it is a huge market and we have only managed to tap the surface and there is immense potential for growth not just for us but everyone in this sector.

"India fish co. Wants to drive its vision forward to ensure that good quality products are accessible to all at a fair price"

Tell us about the various challenges that you encounter as a leader in the Indian F&B sector and how do you overcome these roadblocks?

There are numerous challenges like the this particular segment i.e., fisheries in the F&B sector being unregu-lated and male dominated. Another challenge was not having a business background, but I learnt on the way. Keeping true to one’s vision and sticking to it while keeping oneself up to date with latest industry trends is also a challenge but these all can be overcome by having a good team at hand. Learning to be agile, abili-ty to re-pivot and not taking failures personally is also how I manage these roadblocks.

Drawing from your personal experience what advice would you give to young women and girls who aspire to become business leaders and entrepreneurs in the future?

Don’t be limited by your own perception of your capa-bilities or what society tells you, figure it out for your-self and don’t be scared of failures. Be true to yourself and figure out what drives you because it is a life-long process. What drives one person might not be the same for you, but everything will align and fall into place if you stay true to yourself.

Shrutika Shridhar, Co-Founder, India Fish Co.

Shrutika Shridhar has a degree in Law and is the Co-Founder of India Fish Co. She brings to the table her open mindedness and research-oriented attitude which enables her to venture into and explore the industry which has a lot to offer.