The ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIFA) is a premier Institute in freshwater aquaculture in India under the administrative control of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi. The present Institute has had its beginnings in the Pond Culture Division of the Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI), Barrackpore, West Bengal and was established at Cuttack, Odisha in 1949. During that period, ground breaking research attempts with three technologies viz., induced breeding of carps through hypophysation, practices of nursery and rearing pond management; and composite carp culture were successfully standardized and transferred to the field. This has virtually brought the freshwater aquaculture sector of the country from the level of backyard activity to a fast growing and well organized industry. Later, the CIFRI in a major effort to give emphasis on freshwater aquaculture research, initiated steps on establishing the Freshwater Aquaculture Research and Training Centre (FARTC) over a 147 ha campus at Kausalyaganga, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The Centre blossomed into an independent institute during 1987 as the Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture. The Institute is also the Regional Lead Centre on 'Carp Farming in India' under Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA), Bangkok. ICAR-CIFA is undertaking research on basic and applied aspects of carps, air-breathing fishes, freshwater prawns and mollusks. The Institute possesses fully equipped laboratories in the disciplines of finfish and shellfish breeding including ornamental fishes, fish physiology, nutrition, genetics, biotechnology, nanotechnology, proteomics, microbiology, pathology, engineering, economics, statistics and extension.