
When Trade Becomes a Weapon: What It Means for Tamil Nadu’s Agro-Export Corridor
Thomas Sea Foods, a fisheries MSME in Kanyakumari, had just signed an export deal with an international buyer when a routine requirement stopped the shipment cold: certification from the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA). The certificate itself wasn't the real barrier — the infrastructure needed to qualify for it was. Upgrading processing facilities to meet compliance standards costs crores, far beyond what a single small enterprise can invest on its own. The deal that had taken months to negotiate stalled indefinitely, one of several such losses this MSME faced with international buyers.






