The Indian Coastal Plains

• Coast: The coast is the land along a sea.
• Coastline: A coastline is a line that is considered the boundary between sea and land.

The Coastal Plains

• The Deccan Plateau has a coastal strip in the east and in the west, which are known as coastal plains.
• India has a long coastline that stretches for approximately 7500 kilometers.
• Its western and eastern coastlines are strikingly different.
• It runs along the Arabian Sea to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the east.
• The two plains meet at the peninsula's tip, Cape Comorin. 

The Western Coast 

•  The western coast is a narrow plain sandwiched between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. It's mostly a rocky coast. Its width is less ranging from 10 to 80 kilometers.
• Rivers originating from Western Ghats are short and swift, forming estuaries rather than deltas.
• It is made up of three sections. The northern part of the coast is known as the Konkan (Mumbai-Goa), the central stretch as the Kannad Plain, and the southern stretch as the Malabar coast which is approximately 550 kilometers long and 20-100 kilometers wide.
• It is mainly characterized by sandy beaches, coastal sand dunes, mud flats, lagoons, estuary, laterite platforms and residual hills. There are numerous shallow lagoons and backwaters along the coast known as Kayals and Teris.
• Vembanad is a well-known backwater lake in this area. 

The Eastern Coast

•  It lies between the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal and, stretches along the states of West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
• Many east-flowing rivers from the Western and Eastern Ghats meet on this coast. Because of the gentle slope of the land, rivers flow at slower speeds and deposit the sediments they bring with them at the coast. As a result, deltas can be found along this coast.
• The coastal plain is primarily made up of recent alluvial deposits.
• This coastal plain has a regular shoreline with well-defined beaches.
• The plains along the Bay of Bengal are wide and level.
• The northern part is known as the Northern Circar, while the southern part is known as the Coromandel Coast. 
• Large rivers such as the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri have formed extensive deltas on this coast.
• Lake Chilika is a significant feature along the eastern coast. Chilika Lake is India's largest salt water lake. It is located in the state of Odisha, south of the Mahanadi delta. Among the backwater lakes of this coast, Lake Chilka (Odisha) is the largest lake in India, located southwest of the Mahanadi delta, the Kolleru Lake lies between the deltas of Godavari and Krishna, and the Pulicat Lake lies on the border of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.