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AN INFORMATION COMMUNICATION & TECHNOLOGYMODULE ON IMPACT OF MICROFINANCE ON COASTALINDEBTEDNESS IN INDIAN MARINE FISHERIES SECTOR

Vipinkumar, V.P*., Narayanakumar, R., Ramachandran, C., Shyam. S. Salim,Swathilekshmi, P.S and Johnson, B.Socio Economic Evaluation & Technology Transfer Division,Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi, Kerala, India*Email: vipincmfri@gmail.com

Abstract: For the ecosystem management and sustainable development of the Indian marine f isheries sector, theMicrofinance Institutions (MFI) and Self Help Groups (SHG) play a pivotal role by reducing the coastal indebtednessamong f isherfolk. The study takes care of assessing the extent of indebtedness among marine f isherfolk in Indiaand the role of Microf inance Institutions (MFI) in redeeming the debt, credit utilization pattern, repaymentbehaviour, supply of credit and empowerment of marine f isherfolk and elucidation of success cases of microf inancein entrepreneurial capacity building which in turn led to the development of an Information Communication &Technology(ICT) Module on impact of microf inance on coastal indebtedness in Indian marine f isheries sector.The study was undertaken in the entire coastal belts of India covering four zones such as North East, North West,South East and South West zones comprising a total of 8 maritime states. Situational analysis was done throughParticipatory Learning and Action (PLA) in the selected potential maritime locations and the f isherfolk from thevarious strata such as mechanized, motorized and traditional sectors were drawn as representative samples. Datawere gathered through personal interview with a pre-tested and standardized data collecting protocol frommembers of 12 selected MFIs in each state and non-members in marine fisheries sector comprising of 600 respondentsfrom each state (Grand total 4800) to assess their impact on indebtedness level, supply of credit and empowerment.Success cases of MFIs on entrepreneurial capacity building which played a signif icant role in the poverty alleviationand debt redemption were also documented and the whole results were brought out as the ICT module which isa compilation of interactive multimedia cyber extension package consisting of video clippings, 2 D and 3 Danimation movies, audio records, still picture gallery, ICT based presentations and synergies and outlines representedby full text of the ‘e book’ on microf inance on coastal indebtedness. The results of the study revealed Odisha as thestate with highest level of indebtedness (89%) and Maharashtra as that with the least level of indebtedness (78%).The study also showed that the level of indebtedness of members of MFIs was less compared to the non-members.Though the indebtedness was more in certain cases, the level of repayment was found to be signif icantly improvedin MFIs. In the traditional and tertiary f isheries sectors, there is an extreme necessity of strengthening the MFIventures. It was also found that the MFIs ranked better in most of the major attributes in the perception ofstakeholders compared to banks and non-institutional credit sources. Success stories documented onentrepreneurial capacity building, debt redemption and poverty alleviation in the ICT module can serve as apractical manual/case model for mobilizing MFIs in any key areas for the ecosystem management and sustainabledevelopment in the Indian marine f isheries sector.

Key words: ICT module, Microfinance, Indebtedness, Self Help Groups.

Received on: 10 October 2013, accepted on: 12 December 2013

INTRODUCTION

The extent of coastal rural indebtedness in themarine f isheries sector is quite observablethroughout the Indian coastal belts. The MicroFinance Institutions (MFI)/ Self Help Groups(SHG) mobilised in marine f isheries sector doplay a vital role in reducing the vicious circle ofindebtedness among marine f isherfolk. An exactassessment on the indebtedness level has not sofar been attempted among marine f isherfolk. The

extent and quantum of indebtedness at areasonable level of interest sourced out from theorganised sector is an indicator of developmentsince availability of f inances boosts up theeconomic activity and capital formation in aregion. The extent of indebtedness and theaverage outstanding debt per indebtedhouseholds are comparatively less amongf ishermen as per the f igures of institutional

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sources, but the affairs of the f isherfolk is reallygrim as they are virtually gripped in the handsof non-institutional agencies, namely the moneylenders and traders for which legitimate datasources do not exist. Fisherfolk are attracted tothe non-institutional agencies on account ofsimple procedures and timeliness in availingf inance and for operational expenses whichultimately make them suffer from debt trap andvicious circle of indebtedness. Even whenFisheries sector possesses a major role in earningforeign exchange, the f isherfolk are still in thelower strata of the society because ofindebtedness and are in the clutches of noninstitutional credit agencies. As cheap credit isalways essential for development of Indianmarine f isheries sector with a coast line of 8129km, MFIs play a distinct role in this regard tooffer low cost credit and thereby save thef isherfolk f rom permanent debt trap. Theimportance of the study is in this regard is toassess the extent of indebtedness amongmarine f isherfolk in mechanized, motorizedand traditional sectors on the impactassessment of Microf inance on ruralindebtedness in marine f isheries sector as wellas and the role of credit agencies in providingcredit, the credit utilization pattern as well asrepayment behaviour of marine f isherfolk forbetter ecosystem management and ensuringsustainable development of the Indian marinef isheries sector.

Mammoo (2004) in a study on income,indebtedness and savings among f isherfolk ofUdayapur and Gopalpur of Odisha under BOBPProgramme said that f ishing communities knowtwo distinct credit sources: the traditional/informal and the institutional/formal.Traditional sources include moneylenders,middlemen, f ish traders, boat owners,shopkeepers and pawn brokers. Institutionalsources are mainly banks and cooperatives. Khanet al. (2005) in a case study undertaken onf isheries sector indebtedness in Baluchisthanand Sindh of Pakistan, observed an empiricallink between poverty and indebtedness and themean debt to income ratio in low income groupof f isherfolk was 3:4. Yunus (1999), the pioneerof microf inance projects in Bangladesh said themicrof inance system enabled thousands ofpeople by offering poor people loans, some fear

it could lead to over-indebtedness, butmicrof inance has benef ited the wider economy.Dynamics of twelve women’s Self Help Groupsin Marine f isheries sector of Malabar area ofKerala was studied and a strategy formobilisation of an effective Self Help Group wasdeveloped by Vipinkumar (2007). Sathiadhas(2009) has conducted micro level socioeconomic studies on indebtedness in selectedf ishing villages in different maritime states inIndia. Jayaraman (2005) undertook theperformance analysis of f isherwomen Self HelpGroups in Tamil Nadu and reported that womenSHGs played a substantial role in alleviatingpoverty and indebtedness in f isheries sector.Tripathi and Sharma (2007) conducted impactassessment of SHG-Bank Linkage Programmeon Financial Behaviour of Rural Poor inRaebareli District in Uttar Pradesh to addressthe issue of sustainable development of the ruralpoor through SHG-Bank linkage usingparticipatory approach. The livelihood analysisencompasses all the strategies and assets thatindividuals and households use to earn a livingof which, micro f inance plays a vital role.(CBCRM Resource Center (2003); Arciaga et al,(2002); Ashby (2003), NSSO (2003), Ministry ofFinance (2007) and CED (2008) brought out thereports of indebtedness level in the Indianagricultural sector. Kudumbashree (2010) ofKerala state has spent Rs. 121.88 crores formicrof inance enterprises for womenempowerment. In this context, the MFIs/SHGsof f isherfolk do have a pivotal role in reducingthe indebtedness in the marine f isheries sector.

The present study was undertaken with thefollowing objectives.

To assess the extent of rural indebtednessand the role of various agencies in providingcredit, the credit utilization pattern andrepayment behaviour in marine f isheriessector.

To study the impact of selectedMicrof inance Institutions/ Self Help Groupson rural indebtedness, supply of credit andempowerment of marine f isherfolk andelucidation of success cases of microf inancein entrepreneurial capacity building andthereby develop an InformationCommunication & Technology (ICT)

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Module on impact of microf inance oncoastal indebtedness in Indian marinef isheries sector.

To study the comparative appraisal ofperception of f isherfolk on MFIs,Institutional and Non institutional creditsources in terms of selected attributes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Assessment of the extent of indebtedness amongmarine f isherfolk in mechanized, motorizedand traditional sectors and the role of creditagencies in providing credit and the impactassessment of MFIs on coastal ruralindebtedness, the credit utilization pattern andrepayment behaviour in marine f isheries sector,supply of credit and empowerment of marinef isherfolk and elucidating success cases of MFIsin entrepreneurial capacity building were themajor aims. The project was undertaken in theentire coastal belts of India covering four zonessuch as North East, North West, South East andSouth West zones. The North East zone coveredthe states Odisha and West Bangal, North Westzone covered Maharashtra and Gujarat, South

Fig. 1. Map of Indian coastal belts showing the locale of the study

East zone covered Tamil Nadu and Maharashtraand South West zone covered Kerala andKarnataka states. The map showing the localeof the study is presented in Fig. 1.

Situational analysis was undertaken throughPLA in the selected potential maritime locationsin the above mentioned zones and the marinef isherfolk f rom the various strata such asmechanized, motorized and traditional sectorswill be taken as representative samples byrandom sampling method. A detailed study wasmade through personal interview of thef isherfolk to assess extent of coastal ruralindebtedness and the role of various creditagencies in providing credit, the credit utilizationpattern and repayment behaviour of marinef isherfolk with the help of a pre-tested andstandardized data collecting protocol. Inaddition to this, the situational analysis took careof identif ication of MFI/SHGs mobilized inmarine f isheries sector with f ishery based microenterprises or allied sector micro enterprisesthrough PLA and systematic data collectionprocesses. Any mobilized group venture with aproductive economic activity initiated by thrift

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deposits and sustained by an appropriate micro-enterprise either independently or by theintervention of an external agency is consideredan MFI for the study. This included SHGs alsowhich f inished the gestation period of 36 monthswith an economic activity initiated through thriftdeposits and sustained by an appropriate micro-enterprise promoted by micro-f inance eitherindependently or by the intervention of anexternal agency like NGOs, private microf inancial f irms, banks etc. The dynamics ofcredit utilisation pattern, repayment behaviourand extent of debt redemption of the membersof these MFIs were assessed and the importantdimensions contributing to their effectivenesswere identif ied and thereby the presentprospects and the constraints faced by MFIs inmarine f isheries sector were documented. Datawere gathered through personal interview withthe pre-tested and standardized data collectingprotocol from members of 12 selected MFIs ineach state and non-members in marine f isheriessector comprising of 600 respondents from eachstate (Grand total 4800) to assess their impacton indebtedness level, supply of credit andempowerment. Success cases of MFIs onentrepreneurial capacity building which playeda signif icant role in the poverty alleviation anddebt redemption were also documented and thewhole results were brought out as the ICTmodule which is a compilation of interactivemultimedia cyber extension package consistingof video clippings, 2 D and 3 D animation movies,audio records, still picture gallery, ICT basedpresentations and synergies and outlinesrepresented by full text of the ‘e-book’ onmicrof inance on coastal indebtedness.

Similarly to study the comparative appraisal ofperception of f isherfolk on MFIs, Institutionaland Non institutional credit sources in terms ofselected attributes, respondents were asked toassign ranks to each of the attributes to makecomparison. The data obtained f rom therespondents were systematically tabulated forthe purpose of analysis Garrett’s RankingTechnique was used to identify and rank theattributes on the functioning of MFIs. Garret’sranking technique provides the change oforders into numerical scores. The primeadvantage of this technique over simplefrequency distribution is that the reasons and

factors are arranged based on their importancefrom the point of view of respondents. The percent position of each rank was converted intoscores referring to the Table given by Garret andWoodworth (1969). Garret’s formula forconverting ranks into percent is given below:

Percent position = 100* (Rij-0.5) / N j

Where,

Rij= Rank given for ith factor by jth individual

N j= Number of factors ranked by jth individual

For each factor, the scores of individualrespondents were added together and dividedby the total number of the respondents forwhom scores were added. The mean scores forall the factors were arranged in descendingorder, ranks were given and the most importantfactors or reasons were identif ied. Thereby thecomparative appraisal of MFIs, Institutional andNon Institutional credit agencies was made.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This study highlighted the indebtedness levelof MFIs and non MFIs in Indian marinef isheries sector by taking into account 4maritime zones covering 8 states. The majorf indings are synergised and presented assummarised tables and f igures as follows. Ingeneral, the level of indebtedness and repaymentpercentage across the sectors of members ofMFIs and Non MFIs are presented in Tables 1and 2 respectively as the comprehended resultsof the entire study.

The study undertaken in South West zone, with600 samples in Kasargod, Calicut andErnakulam districts of Kerala state showed theaverage indebtedness of f isheries householdsin mechanised sector of non members of MFIsis Rs 1.95 lakhs and that of members is Rs 0.68lakhs. In motorised sector, the indebtedness ofnon-members is Rs 1.64 lakhs and that of MFImembers is Rs 0.44 lakhs. But in the traditionalsector, the MFI members’ indebtedness is Rs0.50 lakhs and that of nonmembers is Rs 0.36lakhs which indicates the necessity ofstrengthening the MFI ventures in thetraditional sector. In the secondary sector, levelof indebtedness of MFI non members is Rs 1.96lakhs and that of members is Rs 0.80 lakhs. In

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Table 1. Level of indebtedness across the sectors of members of MFIs and Non MFIs

Table 2. Level of repayment across the sectors of members of MFIs and Non MFIs

the secondary sector, level of indebtedness ofMFI non members is Rs. 1.20 lakhs and that ofmembers is Rs. 1.10 lakhs. With regard tomariculture sector, level of indebtedness of MFInon members’ was Rs. 0.76 lakhs and that ofmembers was Rs. 0.58 lakhs. It was also observedthat the repayment capacity of MFI memberf isherfolk was to the tune of 39 %. The studydone in Karnataka state of South West zone,with 600 samples from the various sectors fromMangalore Fisheries harbour, DakshinaKannada district showed the averageindebtedness in the primary sector as Rs. 4.25lakhs, that in the secondary sector as Rs. 3.42lakhs and that in tertiary sector as Rs 0.32 lakhs.The case studies elucidated from ManjunathaSHG, Dakshina Kannada district, and the MFI‘Mathsya”, Navodaya, Amrithavarshini and

Bhramambika, revealed that the MFIs scoredhigh in all the attributes and all membersexpressed maximum satisfaction over theperformance of MFI which brought about asocio-economic transformation, poising towardsa higher standard of living in their livelihoods.

The study undertaken in South East Zonecomprised 600 samples in Nambuthalai, Ervadi,Thirupalaikudi north, Vedalai, Victoria nagarSusaiyaparpattinam and Olaikuda inRamanathapuram district and Tharvikulam,Tuticorin and Punnakkayal of Tamil Nadu frommechanised, motorised and traditional sectorand MFIs. Majority of marine f isherfolk areindebted to f ish traders and boat ownersfollowed by banks and private moneylenders.Bank levied 7 to 14 per cent interest, whereas

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microf inance institution levied 7 to 16 per centinterest on the principle amount. Privatemoneylender levied 24 to 60 per cent intereston the principal amount, interest repayment bythe borrowers were either weekly or monthly.MFIs signif icantly reduced the dependence off isherfolk on private moneylender, considerablyreduced the indebtedness level and increasedtheir repayment capacity. MFIs assisted thef isherfolk in meeting their expenditure onpurchasing of nets, repairing boats and forbuying other accessories. It was observed that39 per cent of marine f isherfolk population wasindebted to f ish traders followed by 37 per centin banks. The study found that 26 per cent ofSHGs were able to repay 81-100 per cent of theloan which they borrowed. The South East Zonealso comprised 600 samples from mechanizedf ishing families at V isakhapatnam f ishingharbor and motorized/non motorized f ishingfamilies at Lawson’s bay f ishing village,Visakhapatnam, Annavaram, Bheemlipatnam,Uppada and Kappudibbulapalam villages. Theresults showed the level indebtedness amongf isherfolk in mechanised sector 65 per cent andthat in motorised sector is 59 per cent. It was alsoobserved that the MFI member f isherfolk ofDWCRA had tremendous repayment capacity ofthe loans. The level of indebtedness got reducedto the tune of 75 per cent after joining MFI andtheir repayment capacity improved to the extentof 65 per cent in mechanised sector. In motorizedsector, the level of indebtedness increased to thetune of 65 per cent after joining MFI, but in themean time the repayment capacity also gotimproved to the extent of 53 per cent.

In the North West zone, the study undertakenin Versova of Greater Mumbai district, Achraand Vengurla of Sindhudurg district, Ratnagiri,Thane and Raigad districts of Maharashtra from600 samples comprising mechanised (45 percent), motorised (30 per cent) and traditional(25 per cent) showed that the level indebtednessamong f isherfolk is 21 per cent amongnonmembers of MFIs (Vipinkumar and Shyam,2013). Similarly, in Gujarat state of North WestZone, Porbunder and Veraval locations havebeen selected for data collection f rommechanized, motorised and traditionalf isherfolk of members and nonmembers of MFIscomprising a total of 600 respondents. The level

of indebtedness is 19 per cent and it is lesser formembers of MFIs and their repayment capacityis to the tune of 26 per cent. There existed asignif icant difference in the level ofindebtedness across the member f isherfolk ofMFIs and non-members on account of theirhigher repayment capacity, less risk involved andeasiness in availing credit.

The study undertaken in North East Zonecomprised 600 samples each from West Bengaland Orissa states. The selected locations areDiga, Contai, Junput and Dadunpatra andKakadwip in West Bengal and Aryapilly andGopalpur of Ganjam district and Astrang andKonark of Puri district and Jagatsinghpur andBalasore areas of Orissa state from mechanised,motorised and traditional sector and MFIs. MFIssignif icantly reduced the dependence off isherfolk on private moneylender, considerablyreduced the indebtedness level and increasedtheir repayment capacity. The results showed thelevel indebtedness among f isherfolk inmechanised sector 32 per cent and that inmotorised sector is 24 per cent. It was alsoobserved that the MFI member f isherfolk havegood repayment capacity to the tune of 29 percent in West Bengal and 36 per cent in Orissa.The level of indebtedness got reduced to thetune of 36 per cent after joining MFI and theirrepayment capacity improved to the extent of56 per cent across the sectors.

With regard to the savings and level ofindebtedness across the states, the Table 4 showsthe frequency of respondents having savings andthe level of indebtedness. The Fig. 2 also showsthe level of indebtedness across states. Thehighest indebtedness is noticed in the state ofOrissa (89 per cent) followed by West Bengal(88 per cent). The least indebtedness is noticedin Maharashtra (78 per cent).

Similarly the sources of credit when comparedacross the states, it was found that the banks werethe major source of loans followed by privatemoney lenders and co-operatives shown in Table4 and Fig. 3. However it varied from state to state,in such a way that the major source in Keralawas Co-operatives and Orissa, West Bengal andGujarat topped for private money lenders. Whenall the maritime states were pooled together, themajor source in general became banks.

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Table 3. Savings and Level of indebtedness across states

Fig. 2. Level of Indebtedness across states

Table 4. Sources of credit across the states

Examining the Table 5 and Fig. 4, it could beobserved that more than 50 per cent of loanswere used for Non Performing Asset (NPAs)creation other than f ishing related items andonly 48.3 per cent was used for purchase of craft/gear and other f ishing related equipments &repair. This can be considered an introspectionof purposes of credit being utilised in the marinef isheries sector across the maritime states of thecountry.

Similarly the purposes of credit throughout themaritime states in the four different zones werecompared in the Table 5 and Fig. 4.

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Fig. 3. Sources of credit across the states

Table 5. Purpose of credit across the states

Fig. 4. Purpose of credit across the states

Development of ICT Module

As a part of the second objective, an InformationCommunication Technology (ICT) Module wasdeveloped on impact of microf inance on coastalindebtedness. This is an interactive multimediacyber extension module on Microf inanceInstitutions /Self Help Groups in the marinef isheries sector of Indian coastal belts. Successcases of MFIs on entrepreneurial capacitybuilding which played a signif icant role in thepoverty alleviation and debt redemption werealso documented and the whole results werebrought out as the ICT module.

The content of ICT module:

The ICT module developed was the f irst of itskind which is a compilation of interactivemultimedia cyber extension package consistingof video clippings, 2 D and 3 D animation movies,audio records, still picture gallery, ICT basedpresentations and synergies and outlinesrepresented by full text of the ‘e book’ onmicrof inance on coastal indebtednesssynchronized with visual effects andentertaining background music. The entirepackage is made available in a DVD and onclicking the respective component; the viewerscan enter the arena of each component of cyberextension package as per their preference. Thecomponents of the module are as follows:

Video clippings

The ICT module consisted of eight short movieson the impact microf inance and coastalindebtedness, two each representing the zones

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identif ied for the project such as North East,North West, South East and South Westzones. The viewers on clicking the respectivelocations of the maritime state or the zone,the movies will be projected pertaining to thatparticular zone.

Animation movies

The ICT module covered 2 dimensional and 3dimensional animation movies on microf inanceand self help groups with sketches anddiagrammes drawn by the artists of the SocioEconomic Evaluation & Technology TransferDivision of CMFRI depicting the formation,stabilization and self-helping phases of Self helpgroups and the impact of microf inanceinstitutions on coastal indebtedness.

Audio records

Another component of ICT module was theaudio records of microf inance and importanceof Self Help Groups mobilisation with dubbedvoices of professionals. Extreme care was takento use the human resources of the division, toreduce the expenditure. The audio narrates thegenesis and different phases of SHGs such asgroup formation, stabilization and self helpingphases and the strategy for mobilising aneffective Self Help Group.

Picture Gallery

The still picture gallery of the ICT moduleconsisted of the still photographs takenthroughout the coastal belts of the country onthe project work on coastal rural indebtednessand impact of microf inance in the marinef isheries sector in two different sections suchas Orissa, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh andTamil Nadu of east coasts and Kerala,Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat of westcoasts with titles.

ICT based presentations

The ICT oriented presentations covered the powerpoint slide presentations used in various stages ofproject conceptualization and approval to the f inalresults of the project with expert supervision onthe quality on the slides which can be used as amanual for subsequent research on microfinanceand Self Help Groups concerned withindebtedness as a practical reference material.

Synergies and Outlines

The last component of the ICT module entitledas synergies and outlines on clicking will leadto the full text of the project report in the PDFversion which was released as the ‘e book’ ofCMFRI entitled ‘Coastal Rural Indebtedness andImpact of Microf inance in Marine FisheriesSector’ by the Hon. Director General, ICAR,Dr.S.Ayyapppan at Mandapam Regional Centreof CMFRI. The results of the study revealedOdisha as the state with highest level ofindebtedness (89 per cent) and Maharashtra asthat with the least level of indebtedness (78 percent). The study also showed that the level ofindebtedness of members of MFIs was lesscompared to the non-members. Though theindebtedness was more in certain cases, the levelof repayment was found to be signif icantlyimproved in MFIs. In the traditional and tertiaryf isheries sectors, there is an extreme necessityof strengthening the MFI ventures. Successstories documented on entrepreneurial capacitybuilding, debt redemption and povertyalleviation in the ICT module can serve as apractical manual/case model for mobilizingMFIs in any key areas for the ecosystemmanagement and sustainable development inthe Indian marine f isheries sector.

Appraisal on the functioning of the MFI/Institutional/Non–Institutional creditagencies

As the third objective, an appraisal of theattributes for institutional, non-institutional andmicro-f inance has been evaluated by Garret andWoodworth ranking and found that MFIs werebetter in many of the attributes compared toother sectors for all the states holistically whentaken into consideration (Table 6).

CONCLUSIONS

The study makes an attempt on the assessmentof the extent of indebtedness among marinef isherfolk in mechanized, motorized andtraditional sectors and the perceived impactassessment of Microf inance Institutions (MFI)on coastal rural indebtedness and developingan ICT module on impact of MFIs on coastalindebtedness. Tripathi and Sharma (2007)conducted an impact assessment of SHG-BankLinkage Programme on Financial Behaviour of

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Rural Poor in Raebareli District in Uttar Pradeshto address the issue of sustainable developmentof the rural poor through SHG-Bank linkageusing participatory approach. The study alsorevealed that f ishermen are most often trappedunder debt to f ish traders and they are not ableto come out f rom the trap. Microf inanceinstitutions/ Self Help Groups signif icantlyreduced the dependence of f isherfolk onprivate money lenders and considerably reducedthe indebtedness level and increased theirrepayment capacity. The results of the study arein agreement with impact assessment study ofMFIs in Karnataka coastal belts. (Vipinkumarand Swathilekshmi, 2012, Vipinkumar et al, 2013)MFIs considerably assisted the f isherfolk inmeeting their expenditure on purchasing of nets,repairing boats and for buying other accessories.It could be observed that the level ofindebtedness in MFIs is less compared to nonMFIs and the level of indebtedness in non MFIsis almost 3 times of MFIs. At times, even whenthe indebtedness was high, the repaymentcapacity of MFIs was found to be more. Banks

Table 6. Appraisal on the functioning of the MFI / Institutional/Non – Institutional credit agencies

were found to be the major source of fundingfollowed by Private money lenders. Non-institutional credit agencies still hold goodacross the sectors. NPAs existed to a great extentas loans are being used for non-f isheriesactivities like asset creation and socialobligations. Vasantha and Manohar (2008)reported that microf inance programmes arepresently being promoted as an importantstrategy for concurrently addressing bothpoverty alleviation and women’s empowermentand micro f inancial f irms must maintaineff iciency levels to increase their scale ofoperations which surely will bring down the costof f inancing and ultimately the benef its will betransferred to the poor people in terms ofimproving the standard of living and reasonablecost of borrowing. Another important inferencewhich could be drawn from the study was that,as the repayment percentage of MFIs in thetraditional sector was not up to the markcompared to non-MFIs, there is an extremenecessity of strengthening the MFIs in thetraditional sector because 91.3 per cent of the

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f isherfolk households come under thecategory of traditional sector in Indian marinef isheries census. It was observed that 37per centof active f ishermen involved in mechanisedf ishing corners 66 per cent of catch andearnings and another 36 per cent of inmotorised sector gets 27 per cent catch andearnings. The rest, 27 per cent involved intraditional sector gets only 7 per cent catch andproportionate earnings which is constituted by91.3 per cent of the f isherfolk population of thecountry. (CMFRI, 2010) Therefore, concertedefforts in this direction to strengthen SHGs inthe traditional sector are inevitable for betterentrepreneurial capacity building throughmobilized microf inance ventures. The successcase studies elucidated on entrepreneurialcapacity building, debt redemption and povertyalleviation through the ICT module developedas a part of this study in turn can serve as apractical manual for mobilizing MFIs in any keyareas for the eff icient ecosystem managementand sustainable development in the Indianmarine f isheries sector.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are grateful to Dr.G.Syda Rao, theex-Director, CMFRI, Dr.A.Gopalakrishnan, thepresent Director, CMFRI, Dr.R.Sathiadhas, theFormer Head of the Socio Economic Evaluation& Technology Transfer Division (SEETTD),CMFRI for the wholehearted cooperationrendered to undertake the study.

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