J&K sees Rs 8050 Cr investment surge since 2021

Srinagar, Aug 02: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today chaired a meeting of Industries & Commerce Department to take assessment of the evolving Industrial scenario in J&K.

The Commissioner Secretary, I&C; Principal Secretary, Finance; Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir/Jammu; Secretary, Revenue; Secretary, Law; MD, JKTPO; DG, Codes; Director, EDI; Director Industries, Jammu/Kashmir and other concerned officers attended the meeting.

Outstation officers participated through video conferencing.

The Chief Secretary took this occasion to take complete appraisal of the development of Industrial sector across the UT. He also took note of the status of development of new Industrial estates and current investment scenario in the UT. During the meeting, Dulloo also enquired about the quantum of registrations made under New Central Sector Scheme (NCSS) and the status of land allotments made to unit holders.

While taking assessment of the investment portfolio of the units established, the Chief Secretary stressed on ensuring production of the units given land allotments by the Department under stipulated timelines.

He advised for acting strictly against the allottes, who are not able to setup their units in specific timeframes provided under the New Industrial Policy.

Dulloo also asked about the progress made on identification of land patches in different districts for augmenting the Industrial Estates across the UT. He noted the deficiencies found in the quantity of feasible land plots in developing Industrial estates and the proposals received by the Department for each of them.

Earlier the Commissioner Secretary, I&C, Vikramjit Singh presented a detailed account of the industrial ecosystem developed here over past few years. He gave out the progress made on investment front, NCSS, land allotments and raising of industrial infrastructure across the UT.

He delineated that an investment of more than Rs 8050 Cr has been realised since 2021. He also gave out that around 889 units promising employment to 46,857 people with an investment proposal of Rs 18,185 Cr have started ground work till the end of previous financial year.

He also revealed that first time ever multiple Rs 500 crore above investment units were setup in J&K under new industrial policy across different sectors. He revealed that UT is the first to achieve 97% reform implementation approved by DPIIT, GoI for BRAP 2022.

Moreover 185 services had been made online through single window portal with onboarding of more than 18 departments on single window portal. It was added that 46 new industrial estates currently under development through different executing agencies has a feasible land of 18,888 kanals.

The meeting was further apprised that out of 1496 applications received under NCSS 916 stands approved by the concerned authorities. It was disclosed that out of the approved outlay of Rs 1050 Cr, incentives to the tune of Rs 210 Cr had been disbursed by JKDFC.

Regarding the newly launched ‘J&K Startup Policy’ it was said that so far 31 startups had applied for seed funding. It was given out that JKEDI is facilitating the start-ups in availing benefits of Loan Guarantee Program from member institute banks as per DPIIT guidelines. Further, the institute has on boarded mentors from various organizations to foster innovation and women entrepreneurship.

In addition two patent cells had been established at JKEDI campus Pampore and Bari Brahmna to cater the request in this regard from the startups. It has also initiated accepting registrations for co-working spaces at its incubation Labs, after designating a space for 34 startups at Bari Brahmana campus and for 24 startups at its Pampore campus. About HAUSLA 2.0, the meeting was informed that the program has been envisaged to promote women entrepreneurship across the UT. It aims at building necessary business skills, enhance market reach & facilitate access to finance/Gov incentive for women entrepreneurs.

It was further disclosed that 511 women out of 915 applicants had been shortlisted by JKTPO/ JKEDI after conducting selection process at district level. The tentative program for training them at district level in different sectors has been fixed for August to October this year, as reported in this meeting.