SRINAGAR: Dispelling all the previous notions, Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta remarked that J&K is fast turning into an investment hub as people are keen to establish their business units here in the UT.
Dr Mehta made these remarks while talking in a meeting called to deliberate upon the deliverables set for the I&C Department for the year 2023-24.
The meeting was attended by the Principal Secretary of Industries & Commerce; Director General, Industries, Jammu; Director, Industries, Kashmir besides other officers of the concerned Department.
Dr Mehta urged upon the officers of the Department to act as facilitators to all the applicants who want to establish their business units here in J&K. He asked them to be the sole contact point for these entrepreneurs so that they are able to swiftly establish their units under Single Window System (SWS) created for their ease.
It was given out in the meeting that under New Industrial Policy (NIP), 2021, a total of 5327 applications/investment proposals have been received so far with an anticipated investment of about Rs 66,000 Cr to be made here in the UT.
The meeting was further apprised that under NIP investments worth about Rs 2200 Cr have been made in J&K till the previous financial year 2022-23. These units have come into production recently creating employment opportunities for nearly 10,000 youth.
Moreover, it was revealed that the current financial year 2023-24 is turning out to be a successful year in terms of investments actually made on the ground. It was elucidated that till date the work started on Industrial units has reached nearly Rs 5500 Cr. These units shall provide jobs to many more youth in the months to come.
Similarly, the Industries Department has allotted land in respect of 1854 units out of which 854 have paid the premium. In addition, 560 units have signed lease deeds and have taken over the possession of the land allotted for starting work on their units as mandated under NIP.
The success is attributed to steps taken by the LG Administration such as the Business Reform Action Plan, and Ease of Doing Business (BRAP-EoDB) under which 352 BRAP points have been complied with and 3188 burden compliances have been reduced.
It also involves providing 167 services of 18 departments on a single window portal for seamless services to the prospective investors besides developing new Industrial Estates and improvement of existing infrastructure.
It is pertinent to mention here that Jammu and Kashmir had even received the first Foreign Direct Investment when Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha laid the foundation stone of the Mall in Srinagar to be constructed by Dubai’s Emaar Group last year.
All these innovative steps coupled with that of peace, progress, accountability, and transparency is boosting the confidence of investors thereby making J&K an ideal investment destination in the country.
