SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today fixed three months time period for the formulation of Trade Policy for the state.
A committee of experts has already been constituted in this regard to address all issues concerning the development of trade, commerce and industry in the State.
‘The Committee should come up with a comprehensive proposal taking care of all issues relating to industrialisation, job creation and generation of wide-ranging economic activities in the industries, handicrafts, trade and commerce sectors’, he said.
The chief minister said industrial packages to encourage investment by outsiders should simultaneously aim at generating employment for locals. The system should be symbiotic, he added.
“While unit holders get facilitated and helped through the package of incentives to earn handsome returns, the generation of jobs for locals in these units should necessarily reflect in the growth and development of trade, commerce and industries in the State.”
The Advisory Committee also discussed in detail other matters particularly the 3 percent interest subsidy to industrial units, brand promotion, extension of Government of India incentives, VAT refund, extension of VAT remission, on-line registration and setting up of new industrial units.
The Commissioner Secretary of Industries department gave a resume of the major headway achieved in the industrial sector.
“Presently 29,000 industrial units are functional in the State generating employment for 1.32 lakh persons,” he told the meeting, according to the spokesman.
He said 15 Industrial Estates with 34,000 kanals have been established in the State and more 6,700 kanals are being brought under new Industrial Estates.
He said 3.5 lakh artisans are associated with handicrafts sector and the export of handicraft items has touched Rs. 1538 crore.
