J&K government keen to encourage investment by the private sector in Jammu & Kashmir

by Vijay Kumar October 20, 2009

Srinagar-J&K(India) October 20 (Vijay Kumar Malla) – Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said said that government is keen to encourage investment by the private sector in the State adding that the young industrialists will be fully facilitated to venture upon in a big way. “Joint ventures in public-private-partnership (PPP) mood are also welcomed”, he said adding that the government wants to utilize all options for wide-ranging industrialization in the State especially in small and medium entrepreneur (SME) sector.

In an interaction session with the visiting Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) ‘Young Indian (Yi) Delegation’ and the members of its State Chapter at SKICC here, Omar said that speedy clearance for establishing projects by the young entrepreneurs is imperative and he would himself monitor the same by taking quarterly review meetings of Industries Department on the subject.He said hr will himself take the quarterly review meetings of Industries Department to ensure speedy clearance of the proposals of young entrepreneurs for launch of ventures worth Rs. 20 crore each.

The Chief Minister while answering various questions put to him by the Yi members and local young entrepreneurs associated with the CII, said that government is keen to encourage investment by the private sector in the State adding that the young industrialists will be fully facilitated to venture upon in a big way. “Joint ventures in public-private-partnership (PPP) mood are also welcomed”, he said adding that the government wants to utilize all options for wide-ranging industrialization in the State especially in small and medium entrepreneur (SME) sector.

Omar identified agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, food-processing, handicrafts, tourism, health and education sectors as high potential areas for the young entrepreneurs to venture upon. “You have greater scope in these sectors and government is ready to facilitate at all levels”, he said.

He said that three important ingredients essential to encourage investors in the State are conducive security environment, image and potential of the State and the infrastructure available. He said his government is working on all the three fronts vigorously to create favourable atmosphere in all the three fields. He said while the law and order and security situation is improving day by day, the State’s good image and potential is being showcased and success stories of local and non-local young entrepreneurs made public to encourage more investors in the State. “We have also flagged infrastructure development as important concern”, he said adding that focus has been concentrated on tourism related activities.

The CII young Indian delegation members presented various suggestions to the Chief Minister for encouraging investment in various sectors of power, tourism, hotel industry, horticulture, agriculture, floriculture, food-processing, housing, etc. The Chief Minister assured them that the government would sympathetically study the suggestions for implementation.

The Political Advisor to Chief Minister, Devender Singh Rana was also present in the meeting.

The meeting elected Akeel Neduo as the Brand Ambassador of CII Kashmir Chapter to showcase the potential of the State at national and international level to rope in investors and help launch joint ventures by the local young entrepreneurs and the outsider private parties. While speaking in the meeting Akeel deliberated upon various suggestions aimed at creating a temperament of entrepreneur development in the State. He sought Chief Minister’s personal intervention in the growth and progress of small and medium industrial sector in the State especially in the Valley.

The National Vice Chairman of Young Indians, CII, Ms. Bharavi Jani announced that the CII national summit will be held at Srinagar next year in the month of September. This would help expand the orbit of interaction between the non-local and local entrepreneurs to launch joint ventures across the Valley.

She gave details of the CII young Indian delegation saying that the organization comprises of progressive young Indians from all walks of life with over 1100 members from 21 Chapters across the India. She said as many as 3200 students from 51 educational institutions and 7200 young and progressive farmers from eight States are associated with the organization. She said awareness and advocacy by engaging youth through various initiatives, platforms and peer leadership activities is the part of the functioning of CII.

She said education, employability, environment, healthcare, governance and value based leadership, arts, culture and sports are other initiatives of the CII besides creating ties between local and national young entrepreneurs to venture upon jointly in the industry sector.

Ms Shefali Chaturvedi Head of the organization secretariat gave resume of the activities of CII saying that the organization has taken modest steps to work towards skill development for youth in Kashmir. The programme will include training of youth in partnership with Yi skills development partners. It will also organize carrier fairs in Kashmir for companies across India to give the youth on Kashmir an equal opportunity of jobs in any part of the country.

The Chairman, CII, Jammu and Kashmir, Sanjay, Zonal Chairman, CII, Kashmir, Waseem Tramboo and other young entrepreneurs from the Valley welcomed the Chief Minister and the visiting young industrialists. They presented various suggestions for the entrepreneurship development in the State and called for all out support by the Chief Minister and his government in their endeavours to help develop SME sector in the State.

The famous young entrepreneurs who were present in the meeting included Ms. Bharavi Jani, Director of SCA Group of Companies, Jayadev Galla, managing Director, Amara Raja Batteries Ltd., Aditya Balasundaram, Vice President, CPC P Ltd., Rahul Chawla, owner of Departmental Stores with head office at Amsterdam, Annush Ramasamy, President SPM Ltd. Coimbatore, Mahesh Sriram, Executive Director of Bharat Travel Services Ltd., Charu Mathur, Regional Director, CII and Miss Shefali Chaturvedi, CEO, Oversees Indian Facilitation Centre.

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