Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank: Loan for Fishing Boats (Catamarans) in Tamil Nadu

What is the PCARD bank fishing boat loan?

The fishing boat loan is an investment credit product of the Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (PCARD banks) of Tamil Nadu, which operate under the Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection Department and the Registrar of Cooperative Societies. It finances the purchase of a catamaran or small fishing boat, and the Tamil Nadu government scheme directory records the loan as ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 60,000 with the interest rate applicable and subject to change.

According to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, 180 Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks function across Tamil Nadu. They form the long-term tier of the cooperative credit structure; separate from the District Central Cooperative Banks and the village-level Primary Agricultural Cooperative Credit Societies, which handle short-term credit. Their mandate is long-term credit to rural households for minor irrigation, land development, farm mechanisation, horticulture, animal husbandry and other activities. A fishing craft sits in that "other activities" category: an asset that earns over several years and therefore needs a loan repaid over several years.

One caveat that has to come before anything else. The Registrar of Cooperative Societies states plainly that because refinance from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development is not available, these banks are at present issuing only jewel loans out of the funds they have. PCARD investment credit; including boat loans, depends on that refinance line. A fisherman planning a purchase should therefore go to the taluk bank and ask directly whether boat loans are being sanctioned this year before organising quotations and property documents. Treating the scheme as automatically live would be misleading.

Why a catamaran loan matters. The kattumaram is the traditional craft of the Coromandel coast, and along with small fibre-reinforced plastic boats it is still what most small-scale fishermen in Tamil Nadu put to sea in. The capital cost, hull, engine where fitted, and nets: is beyond a season's savings for most households but small enough that a formal loan is realistic. Without one, the usual alternative is finance from a trader who then buys the catch at a price he sets, which is the arrangement the cooperative credit system exists to displace.

Who is eligible, and who is not eligible?

You are eligible if:

• You are a member of the Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank for your taluk, or are willing to become one by taking a share.
• You are engaged in fishing as an occupation, and can show a fishermen's identity card from the Fisheries Department or membership of a Fishermen Cooperative Society.
• You live within the area of operation of the taluk bank you approach.
• You can produce a quotation for the craft and gear from a boat builder or supplier.
• You can offer security, typically a mortgage of immovable property, with patta, chitta and an encumbrance certificate — in addition to hypothecation of the craft.
• You are not in default to the cooperative credit system.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• You are outside the bank's taluk jurisdiction. Go to the PCARD bank for your own taluk.
• You have no security to offer. This is the practical obstacle for landless fishing households, and it is the reason many turn to the Fisheries Department's own schemes or to a Fishermen Cooperative Society instead.
• You are an existing defaulter to a cooperative bank or society.
• You want the loan for a mechanised trawler or a vessel outside the small craft category the scheme covers; larger vessels are financed under different arrangements and at very different sums.
• You are seeking a grant. This is a loan, repayable with interest.
• The bank has no funds for investment credit in the current year, which is a real and current constraint rather than a rejection on your merits.

How to apply for a PCARD fishing boat loan

1. Go to the Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank in your taluk and ask the secretary whether boat loans are being sanctioned this year. Given the refinance position, this question comes before everything else.
2. Become a member if you are not already one, by taking the share the bank prescribes.
3. Obtain a written quotation from the boat builder or supplier for the catamaran, the engine where one is being fitted, and the nets. The loan is sized against this document.
4. Collect and complete the loan application form at the bank, stating the craft, the total cost and the margin you are contributing.
5. Assemble the security file: patta, chitta and an encumbrance certificate from the Sub-Registrar for the property being mortgaged, along with your identity and address proof and your fishermen's identity card.
6. Submit the application and take an acknowledgement with a serial number and date.
7. Attend the appraisal and valuation. The bank verifies the property, values the security and assesses whether the expected income from the craft can service the instalments.
8. Execute the mortgage and loan documents once sanctioned, and check the interest rate, the basis on which it is charged, and the repayment schedule before signing.
9. Take disbursement, which is normally paid to the boat builder against the invoice rather than in cash, and register the craft with the Fisheries Department where required.

What documents are required?

How to check the status of your application

There is no online tracker for PCARD bank lending. Follow it up in person:

1. Ask the bank secretary for the serial number of the application and the stage, valuation, board sanction or documentation.
2. Ask when the board of the bank next meets, since sanctions are made by the elected board.
3. Ask specifically about the funds position. A file can be sound on merit and still wait for money.
4. Where the bank does not act or refuses without reason, approach the Deputy Registrar or Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies for your district.

Why fishing boat loan applications get rejected

• No refinance funds available for investment credit in the year: currently the biggest single constraint on PCARD lending in Tamil Nadu.
• No mortgageable property to offer as security.
• Encumbrance on the property offered, disclosed by the EC.
• Applicant outside the bank's taluk jurisdiction.
• No quotation, so the loan amount cannot be computed.
• Existing default in the cooperative system.
• Occupation not established; no fishermen's identity card or society membership.

What to do if the PCARD route is closed

Where the taluk bank is not sanctioning investment credit, a fisherman still has options worth asking about before giving up:

• The Tamil Nadu Fisheries Department runs its own assistance and subsidy schemes for craft, gear and engines, and district Fisheries offices hold the current year's guidelines.
• Fishermen Cooperative Societies provide credit and marketing support to their members and are a separate structure from the PCARD banks.
• District Central Cooperative Banks lend for non-farm sector activities through their branches at taluk and block level.
• Commercial bank priority sector lending covers fisheries, and the State Level Bankers' Committee for Tamil Nadu publishes indicative unit costs for fisheries investments that banks use in appraisal.

Where to raise a grievance

• Secretary and the elected board of the taluk PCARD bank.
• Deputy Registrar or Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies for your district, under the Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection Department.
• Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Tamil Nadu, rcs.tn.gov.in.
• Tamil Nadu Cooperative State Agriculture and Rural Development Bank, the apex institution of the long-term cooperative credit structure, for matters not settled at district level.

Applying is free. No payment beyond the bank's notified charges should be made to any officer or intermediary to obtain a sanction or to speed up a valuation.