Members of a delegation of garment and textile industry returned to the city after visiting Jammu & Kashmir on Tuesday. They were in J&K to explore industrial investment opportunities there. After discussions with several departments of the J&K government, the businessmen said that the incentives on offer were very lucrative as compared to the ones offered in Punjab. They said that they would organise a meeting of different business associations, wherein businessmen would be apprised about the benefits of investment in J&K. Those interested would formally submit an expression of interest to the government there.
Harish Dua, president of Knitwear and Apparel Exporters Organisation, said, “Our delegation’s visit to J&K was very fruitful. During the meeting with different departments and senior officials, we became familiar with many schemes for the new industry. We also cleared our doubts regarding incentives on offer from the government of J&K and from the Centre for new investors. Some of the department heads with whom we interacted included Khalid Jahangir, managing director (MD), Jammu and Kashmir Trade Promotion Organization, Atul Sharma, MD, J&K Handloom & Handicraft Development Corporation and Raman Kesar,MD of J&K State Industrial Development Corporation.”
Dua added that once other businessmen were informed about the benefits of investing in J&K and those who were interested gave a written proposal, they would meet the J&K governor with a formal expression of interest. Amrit Bhambri, another industrialist who was part of the delegation, said, “The visit to J&K was an eye- opener. We never expected that such perks and incentives could be given to the industry by any government. Till now, we had only heard about the high rate of GST reimbursement, freight subsidy and capital subsidy available in J&K from different sources but after the visit we came to know about these in detail from senior bureaucrats. We are looking forward to investment opportunities in J&K. As of now, about a dozen industrialists have expressed their desire to invest there and this number will swell.”
