J&K attracts record ₹5,824 crore investment in 2025-26, 13x jump

Srinagar: Jammu & Kashmir secured a record ₹5,824 crore in investments in 2025-26, 13 times the average annual investments recorded before 2021. This is an outcome of the Centre's ₹28,400-crore special industry scheme for the Union Territory, officials said, which has been oversubscribed more than three times.

For the first time in J&K, multiple investment units with a valuation of more than ₹500 crore each have been set up, according to details accessed by ET. Three such units have already started production. In a recent review, it was found that of 440 units registered under the New Central Sector Scheme for J&K, 390 have started production. The high strike rate, officials said, is in contrast to the previous attempts, when investments were pledged but only a few took off. Further, 312 units with investments of ₹7,864 crore have completed 50% groundwork, as per the review, and are expected to come into production in this financial year.

"For the first time ever, multiple ₹500+ crore investment units were set up in J&K. Chiripal Polyfilms ( ₹ 1,215 cr), Kandhari Beverages ( ₹830 cr), Aegios ( ₹666 crore) have commenced production, while Jupiter Aluminium ( ₹1,177 cr), Dhunseri Polyfilms ( ₹1,069 cr), Orchid Bio-Pharma ( ₹548 cr) shall commence production in FY 2026-27," said a review by the Department of Industries and Commerce of J&K government.


As per the official data for previous years, J&K realised investments of ₹4,145 crore in 2024-25, ₹3,389 crore in 2023-24 and ₹2,153 crore in 2022-23. Besides, J&K recorded a major leap in startups. From 69 startups in 2020, the number jumped to 1,305 in 2025-26. Of these, 816 new startups were registered in 2025-26 alone. Under the New Startup Policy-2024, 25 startups and four incubators were provided funding. This turnaround also helped improve J&K's ranking among states and UTs. It was positioned fifth in Business Reforms Action Plan-2024 and second among small states and UTs in the 2024 Export Promotion Index, up from 17th in 2022.

Besides, Udyam registrations for micro, small and medium enterprises surged to about 635,000 in 2025-26 from about 24,000 in 2021, while the number of cooperative societies surpassed 7,300 from 300 in 2020. J&K has emerged as one of the top three states and UTs on the PM Gati Shakti portal with more than 676 GIS layers and mapping 51 projects worth more than ₹5,000 crore.

Under Prime Minister's Employment Guarantee Programme from 2020-21, 73,524 units with margin money of ₹1,543.08 crore have been established, more than four times the units established before 2020. From 2021 to 2024, J&K received the highest number of projects under the programme. In 2025-26, 6,436 units with margin money of ₹135.36 crore, providing employment to 51,488 individuals, were established, far exceeding the target.