The Eastern Coastal Plains of India are much wider and drier than the west. A number of deltas also occur on the East Coast, but none on the West Coast.
In Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh the East Coast is called Payan Ghat. It extends from Cape Comorin northwards to the united deltas of the Krishna and the Godavari for 1,000 km with width of about 130 km. Further north, near Visakhapatnam the hills come down almost to the coast. The coastal plain is again wider and extends to the Chilika lagoon, the delta of the Mahanadi and the Balasore coastal plain where they merge into the Ganga deltaic plains.
The Subarnarekha river marks the northern limit of the Eastern Coastal Plains of India. There are a number of lagoons and backwaters. The Pulicat Lake near Chennai is a typical lagoon. From north to south, the coastal plains have been designated Utkal, Andhra and Tamil Nadu Plains. The Utkal and North Andhra plains together is known as North Sircar plain and the South Andhra and Tamil Nadu plains together is known as Coromandel plain.
The eastern coastal plains starts rising from the Bay of Bengal. It ultimately merges with irregular alignment of the Eastern Ghats. It is narrow in between the deltas and wider in the deltaic regions. They are less rocky, but the sea around the coast is shallow.