NEW DELHI, Mar 16 (UNI) Jammu and Kashmir must carry out a social and economic cost-benefit analysis before investing in or promoting new ventures in the state, a leading business chamber said today.
Separate strategies have to be adopted to promote industries in Jammu and Kashmir keeping in mind the climate, accessibility, raw material availability, human resources and consumption pattern, suggested PHDCCI.
The state government should make efforts to promote high value, low volume items, service sector and information enabled services in the Kashmir valley.
In Jammu, the advantage of rail connections should be explored by introducing industries which handle bulk materials, it added.
Though many small and medium-scale industries have come up mainly in the traditional sectors along with some new areas like food processing, agro-based units and metallic and non-metallic products in the recent years, despite geographical constraints and environmental consequences, the state has not been able to attract large industries with a huge capital base.
The PHDCCI study has, however, lauded the role of government’s support to small and medium enterprises in the form of loans and incentives to set up industrial units in the state.
Their number has increased from 35,642 in 1995 to 42,808 in March 2001.
At the same time, employment has increased by over 20 per cent between March 1995 and March 2001.
It has called for the creation of a monitoring mechanism to check the performance of the small scale units, which could detect early signs of a unit becoming sick.
To encourage investments in the state, the government should play a lead role to build up the confidence of the private investors.
PHDCCI has urged the nodal agencies operating in the state to provide support and back-up to the existing industrial units to be more effective and result oriented in their operations.
Agencies like the Directorate of Industries and Commerce and J and K Small Scale Industries Development Corporation Ltd have not been able to overcome the declining trend in industrial development of the state, it noted.
