Locals invest Rs 900 cr in Jammu and Kashmir, outsiders zero since abrogation of Article 370

Local investors have made Rs 900 crore investment in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of special status of erstwhile state last August while there has been no investment from outsiders in the Union Territory in one year.

Official figures reveal that local investors have shown interest in the industrial sector in Kashmir which has seen lockdown and uncertainty since August 2019 and made Rs 900 crore investment, while outside investments are nil.

“Despite lockdown and uncertain situation since last August, it is an encouraging sign that local investors have invested Rs 900 crore in the industrial sector. However, outsider investors are reluctant to take any risk at the moment due to which no investment has been made so far,” a senior official of J&K Industries department, told DH.

He said so-far there is only hype in the media about outsiders investing in Kashmir. “But the reality is there has been no investment in the last one year and things look gloomy for coming months also,” the official added.

Though the much-hyped Global Investors Summit, which was scheduled to be held in May, had generated Expression of Interests (EOIs) of Rs 23000 crore from around 66 outside companies, it was put on hold due to Covid-19 pandemic. Earlier, in October last year, the summit was postponed due to the security situation in Kashmir that time.

The BJP government at the Center had justified the revocation of Article 370 saying it had acted as an impediment to the development of Jammu and Kashmir. In his first speech after the abrogation of Article 370, on August 8 last year, 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.

However, since then the economy of Kashmir, which has been virtually under lockdown, has incurred a loss of whopping Rs 40,000 crore, according to a report prepared by Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries.