Eight months after the Jammu and Kashmir administration notified a New Industrial Policy allowing investments from outside, a few big corporate companies will sign non-binding Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) worth thousands of crores with the J&K government on December 27.
Among the corporate companies, who are signing MoUs include Medanta, Apollo and Haldiram, sources said. J&K Industries and Commerce department will sign the MoUs for the establishment of hospitals by Medanta and Apollo groups and with Haldiram for the establishment of its units in the union territory.
The MoUs will be signed in the presence of Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of State in the PMO, Jitendra Singh, J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and other top bureaucrats of Central and J&K governments, they said and added Rs 11,000 crore of the new investments will go to Kashmir, and Rs 12,000 crore will be invested in the Jammu region.
Besides, sources said, the Housing and Urban Development department and some non-local real estate companies will sign 15 non-binding MoUs for real estate development in the UT. “The Tenancy Act will be adopted while Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) will be launched in J&K on the occasion. Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) portal and registration and approval under the RERA will also be launched on the occasion,” they said.
Ranjan Thakur, Principal Secretary, Industry and Commerce, J&K had recently said that since the announcement of the New Industrial Policy (which incentivises investment in J&K), there has been considerable interest in the corporate sector to come to the region.
Around 3,000 hectares from the government’s land bank of about 6,000 hectares have been earmarked for the projects. Sources said that as more investments come in, the government will also make land acquisitions.
Last month, L-G Manoj Sinha had said that the investment in J&K was expected to reach Rs 35,000 crore by December 2021 and proposals for Rs 25,000 crore have already been received.
On August 5, 2019, the BJP government at the Center had justified the revocation of erstwhile state’s special status saying it had acted as an impediment to the development of J&K. In his first speech after the abrogation of Article 370, on August 8, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken about the central government’s plans to end corruption, atrocities and violence in Jammu and Kashmir to make way for industries, private investments and employment.
The move to end J&K’s special status has created an opening for private players to invest in real estate and other infrastructural projects in the UT.
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