Kavaratti
₹66 cr
of bankable business potential identified by the government in Kavaratti.
Source: NABARD PLP 2022-23
Opportunities
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NABARD's plan for Kavaratti · 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
Lakshadweep's 2022-23 credit plan sizes about ₹66.13 crore of lending potential across the whole Union Territory (this is a single combined plan for all the islands, including Kavaratti, the capital). Roughly 57% is farm and allied activity (₹37.77 cr) and about 35% is small business/MSME (₹23.19 cr), with the rest in housing, education and SHG lending.
The biggest single opportunity is fishing (₹7.04 cr) — the seas here hold about 1 lakh tonnes of tuna plus a similar amount of shark, and the plan wants boats and techniques modernised. Coconut is the other pillar: 2,675 of 3,220 hectares are cropped, and there is room to intercrop vegetables in coconut gardens and to process coconut (a grating unit already runs at Kadmat) — food processing alone carries ₹9.94 cr. A standout new idea is seaweed farming run by women's self-help groups, which could yield nearly 30,000 tonnes of dry seaweed a year from just 1% of the lagoons. The whole territory is now certified 100% organic, a selling point for produce. Since this is a declared "No Industry District", MSME money is meant for clean crafts — coir, rope, mat making, carpentry, furniture, soap and boat building — plus tourism.
The plan is blunt about the obstacles: only 8 of 180 self-help groups actually borrow, there is no local scale-of-finance or DLTC (Ernakulam's is borrowed), transport from the mainland is unreliable and costly, and bank recovery is very weak (16%) with a CD ratio of just 8%.
What the plan promotes
- Fisheries is the single largest term-loan opportunity at ₹7.04 cr; the sea around Lakshadweep holds about 1 lakh tonnes of tuna (and tuna-like fish) plus an equal quantity of shark, so the plan pushes diversified fishing techniques and value addition.
- Coconut is the backbone of livelihoods (2,675 ha cropped out of 3,220 ha); the Agriculture Department is popularising intercropping in coconut gardens with short-duration, drought- and salinity-tolerant vegetables during the rainy season.
- Seaweed farming is a flagged large-scale opportunity: the islands can produce nearly 30,000 tonnes of dry seaweed a year using just 1% of lagoon area, run as a women-centric activity through SHGs with trainings already started for 10 women SHGs.
- Plantation and horticulture carries ₹2.20 cr of potential, building on coconut interspaces and CPCRI (Minicoy) research on organic vegetable and fruit production.
- Lakshadweep is 100% organic (declared under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana after Sikkim), opening premium marketing avenues for coconut and vegetable produce.
- Food and agro processing (coconut-based) carries the full ₹9.94 cr ancillary potential; a coconut grating unit already operates at Kadmat.
Gaps the plan names
- Weak SHG credit linkage: of 180 savings-linked SHGs only 8 are credit-linked; groups are reluctant to borrow, so Rural Development and banks need awareness campaigns and to promote more JLGs/SHGs.
- Coconut palms are overcrowded due to lack of recommended spacing, keeping adoption of coconut-based cropping/farming very low; the department should survey each island for location-specific intercrops and banks should offer flexi credit for 'Homestead Farms'.
- No separate Scale of Finance and no DLTC exist for Lakshadweep — the SoF fixed for Ernakulam is used for PLP projections; there is an urgent need for a DLTC in Lakshadweep.
- Unreliable transportation and dependence on the mainland for all inputs make agriculture costly and deter major investments; general reluctance to borrow further dampens credit flow.
- Very poor banking performance: recovery was only 16% as on 31 March 2021, average priority-sector recovery over three years just 5%, and the CD ratio only 8%.
See the plan's recommendations
What the plan promotes
- Fisheries is the single largest term-loan opportunity at ₹7.04 cr; the sea around Lakshadweep holds about 1 lakh tonnes of tuna (and tuna-like fish) plus an equal quantity of shark, so the plan pushes diversified fishing techniques and value addition.
- Coconut is the backbone of livelihoods (2,675 ha cropped out of 3,220 ha); the Agriculture Department is popularising intercropping in coconut gardens with short-duration, drought- and salinity-tolerant vegetables during the rainy season.
- Seaweed farming is a flagged large-scale opportunity: the islands can produce nearly 30,000 tonnes of dry seaweed a year using just 1% of lagoon area, run as a women-centric activity through SHGs with trainings already started for 10 women SHGs.
- Plantation and horticulture carries ₹2.20 cr of potential, building on coconut interspaces and CPCRI (Minicoy) research on organic vegetable and fruit production.
- Lakshadweep is 100% organic (declared under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana after Sikkim), opening premium marketing avenues for coconut and vegetable produce.
- Food and agro processing (coconut-based) carries the full ₹9.94 cr ancillary potential; a coconut grating unit already operates at Kadmat.
Gaps the plan names
- Weak SHG credit linkage: of 180 savings-linked SHGs only 8 are credit-linked; groups are reluctant to borrow, so Rural Development and banks need awareness campaigns and to promote more JLGs/SHGs.
- Coconut palms are overcrowded due to lack of recommended spacing, keeping adoption of coconut-based cropping/farming very low; the department should survey each island for location-specific intercrops and banks should offer flexi credit for 'Homestead Farms'.
- No separate Scale of Finance and no DLTC exist for Lakshadweep — the SoF fixed for Ernakulam is used for PLP projections; there is an urgent need for a DLTC in Lakshadweep.
- Unreliable transportation and dependence on the mainland for all inputs make agriculture costly and deter major investments; general reluctance to borrow further dampens credit flow.
- Very poor banking performance: recovery was only 16% as on 31 March 2021, average priority-sector recovery over three years just 5%, and the CD ratio only 8%.
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
Tap a category to see the facts and figures underneath. Numbers marked unverified are AI-extracted and need a sourcing pass.
About Kavaratti
Kavaratti is an atoll in the Indian Union Territory of Lakshadweep. The census town of Kavaratti, which is the major settlement in the atoll, serves as the capital of Lakshadweep. It is located about 360 km (220 mi) west of the Malabar coast in mainland India.
Source: Wikipedia — Kavaratti
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