Fish farming or pisciculture involves raising fish commercially in tanks or enclosures, usually for food. It is the principal form of aquaculture, while other methods may fall under mariculture.

Fisheries in India is a very important economic activity and a flourishing sector with varied resources and potentials. Only after the Indian Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture been recognized as an important sector. The vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–fold increase that India achieved in fish production in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in 1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13. This resulted in an unparalleled average annual growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which has placed the country on the forefront of global fish production, only after China. Besides meeting the domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51 billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products, amply justifies the importance of the sector on the country's economy and in livelihood security.
India is also an important country that produces fish through aquaculture in the world. India is home to more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity. Presently, the country ranks second in the world in total fish production with an annual fish production of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

As the second largest country in aquaculture production, the share of inland fisheries and aquaculture has gone up from 46 percent in the 1980s to over 85 percent in recent years in total fish production. Freshwater aquaculture showed an overwhelming ten-fold growth from 0.37 million tonnes in 1980 to 4.03 million tonnes in 2010; with a mean annual growth rate of over 6 percent. Freshwater aquaculture contributes to over 95 percent of the total aquaculture production. The freshwater aquaculture comprises of the culture of carp fishes, culture of catfishes (air breathing and non-air breathing), culture of freshwater prawns, culture of pangasius, and culture of tilapia. In addition, in brackishwater sector, the aquaculture includes culture of shrimp varieties mainly, the native giant tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon) and exotic whitelegshrimp (Penaeus vannamei). Thus, the production of carp in freshwater and shrimps in brackishwater form the bulk of major areas of aquaculture activity. The three Indian major carps, namely catla (Catla catla), rohu (Labeo rohita) and mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala) contribute the bulk of production to the extent of 70 to 75 percent of the total fresh water fish production, followed by silver carp, grass carp, common carp, catfishes forming a second important group contributing the balance of 25 to 30 percent. It is estimated that only about 40 percent of the available area of 2.36 million hectares of ponds and tanks has been put to use and an immense scope for expansion of area exists under freshwater aquaculture (Handbook of Fisheries and Aquaculture, 2013, ICAR publication, India). The national mean production levels from still-water ponds has gone up from about 600 kg/hectare/year in 1974 to over 2 900 kg/hectare/annum at present and several farmers are even demonstrating higher production levels of 8–12 tonnes/hectare/year (Handbook of Fisheries and Aquaculture, 2013, ICAR publication, India). The technologies of induced carp breeding and polyculture in static ponds and tanks virtually revolutionized the freshwater aquaculture sector and turned the sector into a fast growing commercial sector. The developmental support provided by the Indian Government through a network of Fish Farmers' Development Agencies and Brackishwater Fish Farmers' Development Agencies and the research and development programmes of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) have been the principal vehicles for this revolutionary development. In addition, additional support was also provided by various state governments, host of organizations and agencies like the Marine Products Export Development Authority, financial institutions, etc.

The freshwater prawn farming has received increased attention only in the last two decades due to its high consumer demand. The giant river prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, the largest and fastest growing prawn species, is cultured either under monoculture or polyculture with major carps. Culture for mariculture species has been initiated in the country and is presently carried out to a limited extent for seaweeds, and mussels as a commercial activity and some fish species like seabass and cobia on an experimental basis to standardize the technology.

While sustainability is being addressed, the present concern is with regard to species diversification, in spite of the fact that the country possesses several other endemic potential and cultivable medium and minor carp species having regional demand, such as, Labeo calbasu, L. fimbriatus, L.gonius, L.dussumieri, L.bata, Cirrihinus cirrhosa, C.reba, Puntius sarana, P.jerdoni. Efforts are being made to standardize the technology of mass-scale seed production of these species and their inclusion as a component of conventional carp polyculture, based on their regional importance. In addition, there is contribution from cold water fisheries, although insufficient for fish basket, is of high value and low–volume category with a projected volume of 1 percent. Important food fishes of cold waters are mahaseer and schizothoracids belonging to the indigenous species and trouts among the exotic varieties.

As far as brackish water aquaculture in India is concerned, it has a long history of traditional practice in bheries of West Bengal and pokkali fields of Kerala. Scientific farm management in the country was initiated only in early 1990s, which developed into a major export oriented sector in subsequent years. However, commercial farming was confined to a single commodity, shrimp, Penaeus monodon, and Penaeus vannamei due to their high export potential. India has an estimated total estuarine area of 3.9 million hectares; of which, 1.2 million hectares of coastal salt-affected lands have been identified to be potentially suitable for brackish water shrimp farming. Of this, about 15 percent of the potential area has been put into aquaculture purpose. About 9 million hectares of salt–affected land has been estimated in the hot semi-arid and arid eco-region of northern plains and central high lands in the states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat with surface and sub-soil saline water. Apart from the giant tiger prawn (P. monodon), certain marine/brackish water fish/shrimp species such as milkfish, pearl-spot and mullets have shown a lot of promises for commercial aquaculture in such inland saline soil/water areas. Production potential ranging from 0.5 to 3 tonnes/hectare/year has been demonstrated from such waters. (Handbook of Fisheries and Aquaculture, 2013, ICAR, India).

India's aquaculture production basically can be classified into freshwater and brackish water production. There are 429 Fish Farmers Development Agencies (FFDA) and 39 Brackish water Fish Farmers Development Agencies (BFDAs) for promoting freshwater and coastal aquaculture. Some of the important species cultured in India are the Indian major carps and shrimp. Besides these, ornamental fish culture and seaweed farming, are slowly gaining importance in the aquaculture scenario in the last few years as alternative livelihood supporting sectors as small-scale activities.

Aquaculture in India has evolved as a viable commercial farming practice from the level of traditionally backyard activity over last three decades with considerable diversification in terms of species and systems, and has been showing an impressive annual growth rate of 6-7