Calcutta: Fish-lovers can now order their favourite fish at the tap of a few fingers.

A government app selling fish has started delivering orders to homes across the city.

Smart Fish, available for download on Play Store, offers a wide variety of frozen fish. Users can pay online, via credit and debit cards or choose the cash-on-delivery option.

The State Fisheries Development Corporation (SFDC), which has launched the app, owns 900 hectares of water body for fish farming across the East Calcutta Wetlands, Salt Lake, Rajarhat, Henry's Island, Frasergunj, Digha and other parts of the state. It produces around 15,000 metric tonnes of fish a year.

There are several private players in the segment, but this is the first time a producer is reaching out to consumers directly. "We have long been supplying fish to private players. We thought why not reach out to customers directly. Pur prices are competitive because we are eliminating middlemen," said Soumyajit Das, managing director of the SFDC.

On Monday, a kilo of dressed rohu was selling at Rs 300 on the Smart Fish app. The price of the same fish was Rs 330/kg on the website of a private online food supplier.

When the Smart Fish app was launched at the Bengal Fish Fest at Nalban Food Park last month, the home delivery option was only available for residents of Rajarhat, Salt Lake and Lake Town.

Till Sunday, the app had registered 1,100 orders. "Several customers have placed repeat orders," said an SFDC official who tracks orders.

The app now offers delivery as far as Garia, Behala and Kalighat in the south and Birati and Madhyamgram in the north. There are more than 30 orders a day on an average, said the official.

The app started with just a couple of deliverymen. Now, there are a dozen.

Orders can be placed between 10am and 5pm. The delivery takes up to three hours.

Customers have over 25 options to choose from - from the traditional bhetki, tyangra and tiger prawns to Indian oysters (googli) and silver pompano, closest to pomfret.

The app is also popularising new items among fish lovers. Basa fillets, priced at Rs 350 a kilo, are one of the most popular items, said Das. "Milkfish (scientific name Chanos chanos), the national fish of the Philippines, is great for tandoor and bhapa preparations," he told Metro.

The dressed items come in packets of 500g, 1kg and 2kg. Fillets and dry fish are also available. The app hopes to cater to "young and working people who don't have hours to spend at local markets".

"Old-timers like to spend a lot of time at the market but when the bazaar baton passes hands to youngsters, they will naturally choose us," Das said.

Shama Mitra of Behala, has ordered from Smart Fish a couple of times. "I have bought tiger prawns, bhetki and pabda. The quality is good and the price affordable. And I don't have to step out of home. What's not to like," she said.