Chethlath
₹66 cr
of bankable business potential identified by the government in Chethlath.
Source: NABARD PLP 2022-23
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NABARD's plan for Chethlath · PLP 2022-23
₹66 crof bankable credit potential identified by the government
MSME
₹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, combined plan for the whole Union Territory of Lakshadweep, so the figures cover all inhabited islands (Chethlath included), not Chethlath on its own. The total lending opportunity for 2022-23 is about Rs 66.13 crore. Roughly 57% is farming and allied work (about Rs 37.77 crore) and about 35% is small business/MSME (about Rs 23.19 crore); the rest is housing, education and self-help-group lending.
The islands run on coconut and fishing. Crop and coconut work carries about Rs 13.87 crore of potential, and the whole UT is now certified 100% organic. Fishing is the single biggest term-loan opportunity at about Rs 7.04 crore, built around tuna (roughly 1 lakh tonnes of estimated potential). A big new push is seaweed farming, planned as a women-run SHG activity that could yield nearly 30,000 tonnes of dry seaweed a year. Food and agro-processing adds about Rs 9.94 crore, including a coconut grating unit at Kadmat, and MSME work (coir, rope, mat-making, carpentry, boat building) another Rs 23.19 crore - though Lakshadweep is a declared "No Industry District", so only clean micro/small units are allowed.
The plan's own warnings: only 8 of 180 self-help groups actually borrow; there is no local committee to set loan sizes (rates from Ernakulam are used instead); shipping goods to the mainland is unreliable and costly; and bank recovery and lending ratios are very low.
What the plan promotes
- Coconut is the mainstay of livelihood; total cropped area only 2675 ha of 3220 ha; Agriculture Dept popularising intercropping with short-duration, drought- and salinity-tolerant vegetables in coconut gardens
- Lakshadweep declared 100% organic (after Sikkim) under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana; entire 32 sq km land approved as organic on 26 Oct 2020
- Fisheries is the largest term-loan opportunity at Rs 7.04cr; tuna is the main resource with estimated marine potential of about 1 lakh tonnes of tuna plus an equal quantity of shark
- Seaweed farming being promoted on a large scale as a women-centric activity through SHGs; island can produce nearly 30,000 tonnes of dry seaweed a year using just 1% of lagoon area; training started for 10 women SHGs
- Plantation & horticulture potential of Rs 2.20cr and food & agro processing potential of Rs 9.94cr, including a coconut grating unit at Kadmat
- MSME potential Rs 23.19cr in a declared No Industry District; only non-polluting micro/small units encouraged - coir, mat making, rope, carpentry, furniture, soap making, country boat building
Gaps the plan names
- Very weak SHG credit linkage - of 180 savings-linked SHGs only 8 are credit linked; groups reluctant to borrow, so Rural Development Dept and banks must run awareness campaigns on credit for business expansion
- Low adoption of coconut-based cropping/farming despite clear benefits, mainly due to overcrowding of palms from poor spacing; Agriculture Dept to popularise intercropping and banks to introduce flexi credit for Homestead Farms
- No separate Scale of Finance for Lakshadweep as there is no DLTC in the islands; SoF fixed for Ernakulam is used for PLP projections - an urgent need for a DLTC in Lakshadweep
- Unreliable transportation to the mainland is a major bottleneck; being far away with limited land area, agriculture depends on the mainland for all inputs, making them costly and deterring major investment
- Very poor banking metrics - recovery only 16% (priority-sector recovery just 5% over 3 years) and CD ratio only 8% as on 31 March 2021, plus general reluctance of people to borrow
See the plan's recommendations
What the plan promotes
- Coconut is the mainstay of livelihood; total cropped area only 2675 ha of 3220 ha; Agriculture Dept popularising intercropping with short-duration, drought- and salinity-tolerant vegetables in coconut gardens
- Lakshadweep declared 100% organic (after Sikkim) under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana; entire 32 sq km land approved as organic on 26 Oct 2020
- Fisheries is the largest term-loan opportunity at Rs 7.04cr; tuna is the main resource with estimated marine potential of about 1 lakh tonnes of tuna plus an equal quantity of shark
- Seaweed farming being promoted on a large scale as a women-centric activity through SHGs; island can produce nearly 30,000 tonnes of dry seaweed a year using just 1% of lagoon area; training started for 10 women SHGs
- Plantation & horticulture potential of Rs 2.20cr and food & agro processing potential of Rs 9.94cr, including a coconut grating unit at Kadmat
- MSME potential Rs 23.19cr in a declared No Industry District; only non-polluting micro/small units encouraged - coir, mat making, rope, carpentry, furniture, soap making, country boat building
Gaps the plan names
- Very weak SHG credit linkage - of 180 savings-linked SHGs only 8 are credit linked; groups reluctant to borrow, so Rural Development Dept and banks must run awareness campaigns on credit for business expansion
- Low adoption of coconut-based cropping/farming despite clear benefits, mainly due to overcrowding of palms from poor spacing; Agriculture Dept to popularise intercropping and banks to introduce flexi credit for Homestead Farms
- No separate Scale of Finance for Lakshadweep as there is no DLTC in the islands; SoF fixed for Ernakulam is used for PLP projections - an urgent need for a DLTC in Lakshadweep
- Unreliable transportation to the mainland is a major bottleneck; being far away with limited land area, agriculture depends on the mainland for all inputs, making them costly and deterring major investment
- Very poor banking metrics - recovery only 16% (priority-sector recovery just 5% over 3 years) and CD ratio only 8% as on 31 March 2021, plus general reluctance of people to borrow
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.
Resources
What this district has
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