By Aftab Ahmed
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The Indian federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir plans to attract investments of up to $ 4 billion over the next two to three years and will provide security for companies based in the region affected by the insurgency, his boss said on Saturday. .
Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was India’s only Muslim-majority state until August 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi carved out a Buddhism-dominated enclave and designated both as territories administered by the federal government.
Tens of thousands of security forces protect the region where India has been fighting an armed insurgency for decades, especially in the disputed Kashmir valley, which is also claimed by Pakistan.
J&K Deputy Governor Manoj Sinha said his government was identifying 6,000 acres (2,400 hectares) of business land and that they would make companies feel safe.
“We have an annual budget of 1 trillion rupees ($ 13.68 billion) for the region and a good amount is being used to provide security for companies,” Sinha told a group of journalists in New Delhi.
The government was also working on organizing an investment summit after a delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, he said.
“We are in touch with all the big companies,” he said.
J&K is one of the least industrialized regions in India, with per capita income of 62,145 rupees in 2016/2017, lower than the national average of 82,229 rupees, but higher than several other states.
The government imposed changes in the region through tough repression, deploying thousands of additional soldiers, imposing a communication blackout and detaining dozens of people.
(The story corrects the typographical error in paragraph 5)
(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed; Editing by Kim Coghill, William Maclean)