In 1960, many families migrated from Bangladesh to Chhattisgarh in India as refugees. Late Shri Satish Mandal’s family was one among them. While in search of livelihood in initial days, he confronted many challenges due to language barrier, climatic conditions & food habits in Chhattisgarh. At the same time, he realized that fish was less produced and consumed in the state and people had limited knowledge on fish culture and harvesting methods. Having expertise in fish culture and harvest, he felt fish business to be a good opportunity and bought 28 kgs of fish for Rs. 34/-(Rs. 1.20 /kg)and sold it for Rs. 90 (Rs. 3.20/kg). This fetched him a total profit of Rs. 56/-. He spent his 1st earning on buying food for his family.
Simultaneously, Shri Mandal started making nets to catch fish and sold them to the fishers of Bangladesh and also trained villagers in fish farming. His knowledge and expertise inspired many villagers to take up fish farming as an occupation.
In 1985, Late Shri. Satish Mandal and his three sons started the aquaculture as a business to earn their livelihood. His eldest son Shri Tapas Mandal and second son Swapan Mandal harvested fish in Chhattisgarh and sold at Kolkata that initially earned them Rs. 2.50 Lakhs/annum. His third son, Shri. Sukhdev Mandal was good at academics and did post graduation in Economics and then joined a private company for two years. Later he joined Hands with his elder brothers in the family fish business. They bought fish varieties like Rohu, Catla, Pangasius from Andhra Pradesh and traded them in Chhattisgarh.
In 2007, Mandal brothers constructed a pond with an investment of Rs. 25 Lakhs with a subsidy of Rs. 10 Lakhs received under government scheme. In a span of six months, the Rohu fish cultured in the pond, which grew to an average size of about 1kg,was sold in the market which brought them huge profits. This motivated the Mandal brothers to expand their fish farming business.
On 3rd September 2008, Mandal brothers have founded their own company registered as M.M. Fish Seed Cultivation Private Limited. During the same year, the company reported a profit earning of Rs. 20 Lakhs. The Agriculture Production Commissioner visited their farm and adulated their work.
From 2017, the company has been producing Monosex Tilapia& Pangasius by setting up a hatchery with the permission from Ministry of Agriculture, Govt.of India. Organic farming method without use of chemicals was practiced and the fish was sold in live condition in Chhattisgarh. Live Pangasius was also sold to nearby company farms. A comprehensive approach to maintain water quality in ponds through regular checking in terms of Ammonia, Dissolved Oxygen, pH etc was taken up. Cage farming was also initiated.
The rapid expansion in fish farming has prompted Mandal brothers to diversify into different businesses under a conglomerate “Mandal Group of Companies Pvt. Ltd”. Presently, the Group of Companies is doing its production on 140 Ha (108 Ha of own farm and 32 Ha on lease) of ponds in 7 districts of Chhattisgarh & Madhyapradesh where Indian Major Carp, Pangasius, Monosex Tilapia, Koi, Chitol are produced. Every year around 3500 MTs of fish is produced by the Company. The Company has opened Fish Farmers Help Centre at Raipur and Bilaspur.