Foreign investment: UAE business delegation to visit Jammu and Kashmir

A month after a business delegation from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) visited Jammu and Kashmir to explore business opportunities, another delegation is arriving in the Union Territory to take the initiative forward.

The delegation includes Lulu Group Chairman and Managing Director Yusuff Ali, DP World Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Emaar Properties Founder and Managing Director Mohammad Ali Alabbar among others.

Besides, Royal Strategic Partners and WizzFinancial have also pledged industrial investments in Jammu and Kashmir, sources said, adding that total investments from the Middle-East country has been pegged at around Rs 3,000 crore.

Earlier in March, a business delegation from the Middle East had come on a four-day visit to Kashmir to see the potential for investment. The businessmen from the UAE are mostly interested in investing in infrastructure, information technology, hospitality and food processing.

The UAE making an entry into J&K for the first time in the past 74 years is seen as recognition of New Delhi’s policy to scrap Article 370 that gave special powers to the erstwhile state. The UAE venturing into J&K is also a signal to Pakistan which has been harping on the propaganda about Kashmir being a problem that needs to be settled and Muslim countries should support its argument.

Following investment from the UAE, the J&K government is now also targeting investments from other countries after the groundbreaking ceremony and industrial investments in Jammu and Kashmir become a reality on ground, sources said.

J&K government has so far allotted or is in the process of allotment of total 19,125 kanals (2390.6 acres) of land to 1105 applicants in Jammu division for total investments worth Rs 17,968 crore, Similarly, in Kashmir valley, 19,897 kanals (2497.1 acres) of land has been allotted or is in the final process of allotment to 3339 applicants for investments amounting to Rs 24,187 crore, sources said.

Going by the response the Jammu and Kashmir government has got from within the country and abroad, the administration anticipates investments to surpass Rs 70,000 crore. The government had organised a Real Estate Summit in Jammu in December and a similar summit in Kashmir is proposed to be held in May for investments in the real estate sector.

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