Nilam

Androth

Coconut & CopraTuna FishingCoir

₹66 cr

of bankable business potential identified by the government in Androth.

Source: NABARD PLP 2022-23

1 ready-to-build opportunity

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Androth coir mat, rope & decor maker cluster

Unverified

A household cooperative that processes Androth coir into spun rope, mats and decor products sold to mainland eco-brands and D2C buyers at several times raw-fibre value — keeping the processing margin on the island.

Capex
₹4–10 lakh
Payback
2.3 years payback
Risk
Moderate
Coir-BoardPMFME

NABARD's plan for Androth · PLP 2022-23

₹66 crof bankable credit potential identified by the government

MSME (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises)

₹23 cr

Crop production, maintenance & marketing

₹14 cr

Term loans for agriculture & allied activities

₹13 cr

Ancillary activities (incl. food & agro processing)

₹10 cr

This is a single, UT-wide credit plan for all of Lakshadweep (Androth and every other inhabited island), so the figures below cover the whole territory, not Androth alone. For 2022-23 NABARD sees about ₹66.13 crore of lendable potential. Roughly 57% is farming and allied activity (₹37.77 crore) and 35% is small business/MSME (₹23.19 crore) — the rest is housing, education and SHG lending.

The island economy runs on coconut and the sea. Crop loans (mostly coconut, with vegetable intercropping) are worth about ₹13.87 crore, and fisheries alone is ₹7.04 crore — the biggest term-loan line — built on roughly one lakh tonnes each of tuna and shark. A standout fresh opportunity is seaweed farming run by women's self-help groups, where the islands could grow up to 30,000 tonnes a year using just 1% of the lagoon. Lakshadweep is also 100% organic, which opens premium markets. On the enterprise side, this is officially a 'No Industry District', so only clean micro units fit — coir, rope and mat making, carpentry, soap making, country boat building — plus new tourism under the 2020 policy. Food and fish processing carries about ₹9.94 crore.

The plan's own warnings are practical: only 8 of 180 SHGs actually borrow, there is no local scale-of-finance or DLTC (Ernakulam's is borrowed), coconut palms are overcrowded, and the biggest brake on fish exports is missing cold storage, ice plants and jetties.

See the plan's recommendations

What the plan promotes

  • Coconut is the livelihood mainstay (2,675 ha cropped out of 3,220 ha); Agriculture Dept promoting intercropping of short-duration, drought/salinity-tolerant vegetables in coconut gardens, plus vermicomposting/vermiwash from coconut leaf.
  • Fisheries is the single largest term-loan line at 7.04 cr; ~1 lakh tonnes each of tuna and shark potential; PLP pushes mother-vessel transport, fish/boat jetties, live-bait tanks and ice boxes for pole-and-line tuna.
  • Large-scale seaweed farming being promoted as a women-centric enterprise via SHGs; island can produce ~30,000 tonnes of dry seaweed a year using just 1% of lagoon area; training started for 10 women SHGs.
  • Lakshadweep is 100% organic (after Sikkim) under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana; entire 32 sq km land area declared organic on 26 Oct 2020, opening new market opportunities.
  • Plantation & Horticulture term loans of 2.20 cr, with storage and value-addition facilities flagged to help farmers get better prices.
  • MSME potential of 23.19 cr (35% of plan) in a declared 'No Industry District' — only non-polluting micro/small units: coir, mat making, rope, carpentry, furniture, soap making and country boat building; Lakshadweep Tourism Policy 2020 expected to draw tourism investment.

Gaps the plan names

  • Only 8 of 180 SHGs are credit-linked; strong reluctance to borrow — urgent need for awareness campaigns by Rural Development Dept and banks, and flexi credit for 'Homestead Farms'.
  • No separate Scale of Finance and no DLTC for Lakshadweep — projections currently borrow the Scale of Finance fixed for Ernakulam; an urgent need for a DLTC in Lakshadweep.
  • Overcrowding of coconut palms from lack of recommended spacing keeps coconut-based intercropping adoption very low; department needs island-specific crop surveys.
  • Being far from the mainland, agriculture depends on the mainland for all inputs; unreliable transport is a major bottleneck, and the small, fragile eco-system limits large investments.
  • Lack of shore-based infrastructure — ice plants, tunnel freezers, cold storage, transport — is the main impediment to fish exports; PLP calls for jetties, storage and marketing improvements under RIDF.

Value-chain gaps

Money this district loses today

Raw output sold cheap, value added elsewhere — each gap below is an opening for a local business.

Coir & coconut: raw fibre → branded coir products & oil

Unverified
Raw 85%Processed 15%

Androth's coir craft skills and coconut economy send out husk and copra largely raw or as basic fibre at low rates. Finished coir mats, ropes and eco-decor plus cold-pressed virgin coconut oil command a multiple of the raw-fibre and copra price. Local value-addition under an island-craft brand keeps margin and jobs in the district.

Growth signal

Global demand for natural coir and eco-friendly coconut products is rising.

Tuna: raw catch → canned & vacuum-packed

Unverified
Raw 85%Processed 15%

Androth lands tuna that is sold mostly raw or as basic dried fish at low ex-boat prices, with the processing margin captured on the mainland. Canned, vacuum-packed and value-added tuna products — with cold-chain and certification — fetch several times the raw rate in retail and export markets. A local processing and cold-chain unit keeps that value on the island.

Growth signal

Canned and ready-to-eat tuna demand is growing in domestic and export markets.

Resources

What this district has

Tap a category to see the facts and figures underneath. Numbers marked unverified are AI-extracted and need a sourcing pass.

Agriculture & natural resources

2 facts

Skills & labour

1 fact

About Androth

Andrott Island, also known as Androth, is a small inhabited island in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, a group of 36 coral islands scattered in the Arabian Sea off the western coast of India. It has a distance of 293 km (182 mi) west of the city of Kochi.

Source: Wikipedia — Andrott

Lakshadweep

Androth

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