News Folio   J&K hopes to get investment worth Rs 75,000 crore by 2023

SRINAGAR Jammu and Kashmir is expecting to touch the Rs 75,000-crore mark in terms of in-bound investment proposals - of which those worth Rs 56,867 crore are already received and land allotted for projects worth Rs 36,000 crore by the end of next year J&K chief - secretary Arun Kumar Mehta said results of the industrial investment push will be visible in another one-and-a-half years, both in terms of up-and-running units and the jobs they will generate locally.

Pharmaceuticals, cold storage, food processing, packaging, logistics, medi-cities, educational institutions etc have shown a keen interest in setting up units in J&K. Also there are foreign investment proposals worth almost Rs 3,000 crore, including from the Lulu group.

"Rs 75,000 in my opinion is not a very ambitious target. J&K is number one in the country in terms of production of walnut, apple, many agricultural products, horticulture, saffron etc. So we are expecting a lot of interest globally and locally to source products from J&K Film industry is showing high interest in J&K as the cost of shooting in a foreign. destinations like Switzerland is far more," said Mehta.

Another senior J&K government official said the kind of incentives that the new J&K industrial development scheme offers is not offered by any state or UT. "Two things have changed since 2019. Until 2019, an investor (from outside J&K) could not own land in J&K, he had to depend on the local partner. For the first time since 1947, industry can own land legally in J&K. Second big change is that the entire machinery which was inherently opposed to anything from outside, became friendly in terms of how they look at local and foreign investors," said the officer.

Mehta too added: "People are realising, as we have opened up the economy, that J&K is a good destination to invest in. Everything put together, J&K is a good package."

Recounting factors that make J&K an attractive and safe investment destination, an official pointed out that the crime rate in J&K is amongst the lowest. "One cannot recall any incidents of violence against any particular industry in recent times, even though there may be a stray killing of non-local labourers. As for disruptions which were normal earlier, there has not been a single day of bandh in the last one- and-half-years. This is in sharp contrast to 2019 times when one-third of days in a year were lost to strikes.

"J&K is changing and people see that. If you have been put into a box for 75 years, there are a lot of low hanging fruits available...the natural advantages are not used. I am sure the industry knows. Projects implemented in the recent years like power projects, national highways and railways etc, were never disrupted. So there is no evidence to show that when an industry comes up here, anyone disrupts it. Lastly, people of J&K are extremely warm towards anybody who comes in as an investor or tourist," said the officer.

Responding to talk that the industries are not "visible" in J&K yet, a senior government functionary here clarified that it usually takes around three years to set up any industry. "Due to Covid pandemic, nobody could start work until August 2021. It was only after September 2021 that things started picking up. As of now, industries in J&K have generated more than 6,000 jobs. More than 110 units have started working on the ground and this number should rise to 500 by the end of this year. More than Rs 56,000 crore investment proposals promising 2.6 lakh jobs have come in. Of the 1,892 industry proposals for which land was allotted until 31.10.2022, money has been deposited for 740. We are expecting foreign investors to come in as well. Also we have created a single-window clearance system so that investors do not have to run from pillar to post," said the officer.

Also confident about the IT industry coming back to J&K despite the 4-5 month-long internet curbs after nullification of Article 370, a senior official said the restrictions were "important then to protect the people and save lives". "But 2019 does not happen every time," he said while ruling out any such curbs in the future.

DISCLAIMER:

The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article.

Courtesy: Times of India, Nov 28, 2022