Jammu & Kashmir administration has decided to identify 60,000 kanals (around 7,500 acres) of government land for potential investors ahead of the much awaited Global Investors Summit in April, ThePublish has learnt.

The summit is scheduled for the third week of April, six months after its original October date, multiple officials in the administration said.

Of the 60,000 kanals , 50,000 kanals are in Jammu and 10,000 in Kashmir, the officials added.

The land to be identified will either be rented out, leased or even sold to potential investors across the globe, the sources said. 

The sale of Kashmiri land to outsiders has been made possible by the scrapping of Article 370 last year — the constitutional provisions set aside special privileges for Jammu & Kashmir residents and barred outsiders from owning local property.   

The potential for greater investments was one of the arguments put forth by the Modi government as it controversially scrapped the two provisions last year.

An investor summit was thus planned in the immediate aftermath of the 5 August decision, in October, but it was postponed.

Shah said the administration has also planned roadshows in cities across the country to spread awareness about investment possibilities in J&K. “The road shows are supposed to take place in Ahmedabad, Surat, Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad,” he added.

“There are three sectors where we think investors, particularly those from J&K, will like to invest in. One is health, second is education and third is information technology,” Shah said.

“We have got several proposals and applications from industries, private companies, educational intuitions and the health sector, which are under consideration,” he added.

“These proposals are from the country as well as abroad. Educational institutes like Vishwakarma University (Delhi), Fergusson College (Pune) and Amity University (Noida) want to set up branches in J&K,” Shah said. 

According to Ravinder Kumar, the managing director at J&K State Industrial Development Corporation (SIDCO), the summit is aimed at getting investors from the Non-Resident Indian (NRI) community across the globe. 

“Getting investors, particularly those who are originally from J&K and living in middle-eastern countries such as the UAE, will also be a prime focus of the summit,” Kumar, who is the nodal officer for the summit, said. 

group of doctors from J&K who are living in the United States has… approached the industries department to set up a non-profit tertiary-care hospital in Kashmir,” Shah added. “Every year, 1 to 1.5 lakh patients travel outside J&K to seek treatment. If such initiatives take off in Kashmir, it will be a major relief for people here and will also create employment.” 

Kumar said invitations are yet to be sent and the J&K administration is working on shortlisting potential investors.

He added that invitees would include representatives of different state governments as well as foreign countries. “We will be approaching the embassies of various countries to invite business delegates and officials soon,” he said.

Most of the land identified in Jammu is located in Kathua and Samba, while in Kashmir, it’s in Anantnag. 

The identified land will be allocated across various sectors, including food processing, education, information technology, animal husbandry and so on, sources in the administration said.

The land, according to senior government officials, is supposed to be identified before the arrival of investors interested in expanding their respective businesses into J&K.

“The UT government has tasked the industries department with accumulating land banks in Jammu and Kashmir on a war footing,” said a government official.