Out of Rs 1.63 lakh crore proposals, J&K attracted only Rs 10,516 crore investment since 2019

Srinagar: Since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, Jammu and Kashmir has received investment proposals worth Rs 1.63 lakh crore, but actual investments amounting to Rs 10,516 crore, or 6.45 per cent of the total proposals, have been made in the Union Territory (UT).

J&K Minister for Industries and Commerce Surinder Choudhary shared these figures in the Legislative Assembly on Monday in a written reply to a question raised by MLA Javed Iqbal Choudhary.

Of the total investment, Rs 3,407.63 crore has been directed towards Kashmir and Rs 7,108 crore towards Jammu.

Breaking it down by year, Kashmir has seen investments of Rs 164.37 crore in 2019-20, Rs 148.89 crore in 2020-21, Rs 125.87 crore in 2021-22, Rs 737.36 crore in 2022-23, and Rs 1,423.17 crore in 2024-25 (up to February 25, 2025).

In Jammu, investments include Rs 132.27 crore in 2019-20, Rs 263.85 crore in 2020-21, Rs 250.89 crore in 2021-22, Rs 1,416.07 crore in 2022-23, Rs 1,966.20 crore in 2023-24, and Rs 3,079.57 crore in 2024-25.

Following the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 in August 2019, the central government has been actively working to attract both foreign and domestic investments to the Union Territory.

According to the J&K government’s economic survey for 2024-25, investment proposals worth Rs 1.63 lakh crore have been received, with the potential to create direct employment for over 5.90 lakh people.

However, despite the large volume of investment proposals, progress on realizing these investments has been relatively slow.

J&K’s fundamental problem is dependence on Central funds for public expenditure, the huge cost it pays to purchase power from outside and the ballooning salaries and pension bill and interest payments.

The UT’s total debt is Rs 1,25,205 crore which represents 52 per cent of J&K’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Rs 2,38,677 crore.