New Industrial Policy addresses entrepreneurship aspirations of J&K Youth

UT would soon host Global Investors’ Summit to increase employment opportunities, accelerate industrial growth

SRINAGAR, JUNE 7: The government of Jammu and Kashmir is providing an enabling environment for investors to start their business ventures in the Union Territory.

For Industries and Commerce sector, an allocation of about Rs 555.80 crore has been made under capital expenditure for the year 2022-23 which is Rs 139.84 crore more than the previous year’s budget allocation.

The focus of Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Policy 2021-30 is to attract new investment, creation of employment opportunities for youth, development of backward regions and nurturing of existing industrial units.

As per the official figures, the New Industrial Policy is also expected to create 4.5 lakh jobs in J&K. The new policy has a spending outlay of Rs 28,400 crore (Rs 284 billion), the largest incentive to date, for industrial development of Jammu and Kashmir for the next 15 years. “It is expected to generate an investment of Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) and employment of 4.5 lakh over the plan period.” said an official.

The UT administration is building an eco-system through Industrial Policy and other entrepreneurship related initiatives for nurturing innovation and startups in J&K. The creation of Industry Innovation clusters has encouraged a new generation of entrepreneurs to lead from the front and create jobs for others.

After years of not up to the mark of performance in industrialization, Jammu and Kashmir is at a new stage in its development trajectory.  Focused attention is being given to growth of dynamic sectors including real estate, horticulture and tourism so as to create increased employment opportunities

J&K administration has taken numerous steps to create infrastructure, schemes and policies to speed up economic development and to meet aspirations of youth so that they can contribute to society and achieve self-growth.

As the industries are being set up in J&K under the New Industrial Scheme, special focus is being given on training of local youth to fulfill the needs of skilled workforce. A survey and a database of all the people who are to be connected with job opportunities is being prepared, an official said.

J&K government’s new resolution to equip its youths with entrepreneurship skills and building a database of 5 lakh youth has earned praises from PHDCCI-J&K. PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kashmir Chapter (PHDCCI), Chairman, Baldev Singh Raina, has applauded the UT administration for adopting the youth centric policies.

Notably, Jammu and Kashmir would soon host Global Investors’ Summit with an objective to bring together investors, decision-makers, senior government officials and local business community for a dialogue on concrete investment opportunities in the UT.

“It will be replete with Strategic Sectoral sessions, Round Table Deliberations, one-to-one Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Government (B2G) meetings. The main objective behind the summit is to increase employment opportunities by accelerating the industrial growth in the newly carved UT,” an official said.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Khadi and Village Industries Board (J&K KVIB) has released a whopping amount of Rs 348.48 crore as margin money (subsidy) in favour of entrepreneurs who had applied loan from the board since 2019.

Vice chairperson of KVIB, Dr Hina Shafi Bhat, informed that the board has released this amount to 15,459 unit holders under JK Rural Employment Generation Programme (JKREGP) and Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) directly benefiting 118,188 individuals of the UT in these 3 years.