The Industries Sector is now playing its due role in the economic development of the State and in generating employment opportunities for the unemployed youth. Previously it used to be only the Handicrafts, Handlooms and Cottage Industry providing livelihood to a large population at different stages of production, sale and export.

OBJECTIVES

• To create infrastructural support for facilitating the growth of industry and commerce in the State.
• Mobilize new investment and support the MSME sector.
• Facilitation and promotion of new Industrial units.
• Skill development and up-gradation for the Handloom, Handicrafts Sector, carpet, Craft development and Entrepreneurs Development Programmes.
• Marketing support & Sales promotion.
• Exploration & sustainable Mining of Minerals.
• Rehabilitation of Sick Units and action against defaulting units.
• Promotion of Cottage / Traditional Industries.

FUNCTIONS

• To disseminate information about various industry related schemes of both GoI / State Govt. and area of operations to entrepreneurs.
• To identify new areas/ sectors in the State where Industrial infrastructure could be created.
• To develop new Industrial Estates and maintaining & upgrade existing industrial estates.
• To hold periodical meetings for Single Window Clearance for Micro/Small, Medium/large units for grant of provisional registration, allotment of land, power sanction, clearance from PCB in a time bound manner.
• To rehabilitate potentially sick units.
• To facilitate providing of State / Centre Govt. incentives/subsidies to the eligible units as per the package of incentives.
• To improve working conditions of the artisans for enhancing their production capacity by taking advantage of various development/welfare schemes launched by State/Centre Governments create skilled manpower in the industry by revamping the existing training programme, introduce new designs in-tune with the preferences of the buyers, work for preserving and protecting the exquisite handicrafts by obtaining certificate/registration from appropriate bodies and facilitate financial support /hand holding's to the artisans.
• To carry detailed Geological Investigations/ Drilling / Mining, for assessment and exploitation of mineral deposits to setup of mineral based Industries.

This programme of the State Government is administered by Department of Industries and Commerce through- five (5) Directorates of Industries, Handicrafts, Handlooms and Geology & Mining,- Four (4) Corporations viz SIDCO, SICOP, Handloom Dev. Corp. and Handicrafts (Sales & Exports) Corp.- Public Sector Undertakings of JK Industries Ltd., JK Minerals Ltd., JK Cements Ltd.- Training & Research Institutes like CDI, IICT, EDI and KVIB.

A glance at investment made by the entrepreneurs in industries sector over the years.

Abstract Position:
Small Scale Units            = 29102
Large & medium Units   = 83
Total Investment             = 7615.90 crores
Total Employment          =152651

INCENTIVE REGIME
A comprehensive State Industrial Policy came into being in 2004 which facilitated provision of Incentives to attract private sector investment for the industry in a big way. The incentives are aimed at overcoming the constraints of remoteness, poor connectivity, high transportation cost and erratic power supply faced by the Industry. It focuses on private sector industrialization in backward blocks of the State and modernization of the existing units. Prior to State incentives the Central Government in 2002 announced its Package of Incentives which has been extended for further five years up to 15 July 2017 on its expiry of ten years period in July 2012. Therefore two sets of incentives are available to the entrepreneurs- one from the Centre Government and the other from the State Government.
These incentives are as follows
State Fiscal Incentives

• 100 percent subsidy on purchase of new Diesel Generator sets.
• 100 percent subsidy on project report preparation and quality testing equipment.
• 75 percent subsidy on Research and Development.
• 3 percent interest subsidy on working capital.
• 5 percent rebate on interest on term loan for technocrats.
• Special incentive for brand promotion and modernization.
• Land and Power at concessional rates.

Tax Incentives

• Toll tax exemption on import of raw material and export of finished products.
• CST exemption
• VAT remission.
• Stamp duty exemption.

Central Package Fiscal Incentives

• 15 percent subsidy on capital investment on plant and machinery.
• 3 percent interest subsidy on working capital.
• 100 percent insurance cover to Industrial units.

Tax Incentives

• 100 percent excise refund.
• Total income tax exemption.

Make in India
The J&K State under the "Make in India" programme is looking forward to attract domestic investors to invest in the State. "Ease of Doing Business" has rightly been recognized as the most important factor in achieving the goal of "Make in India". The State Government has initiated the process for playing its role as the interface of enterprises.

The existing State Industrial Policy is expiring on 31st March, 2015 and the new Policy is going to come into effect from 1st April 2015. Committee constituted for drafting the New Industrial Policy has been properly sensitized to deliberate on the issue of easing out the procedures for the entrepreneurs/ industrialists to invest in the State. The Government is simultaneously working on drafting Trade Policy and Manufacturing and Export strategies of the State.

In order to initiate concrete action on the recommendations of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion DIPP, GoI, the State Government has constituted two high level committees viz Monitoring Committee under the chairmanship of Financial Commissioner, Industries & Commerce Department and Apex Committee under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary.

The existing infrastructure is in dilapidated condition in a number of Industrial Estates established earlier and there is need for their up-gradation. Up-gradation of following Industrial Estates has been taken up through central assistance under Cluster Development Programme of Ministry of MSME and through State Plan on the recommendations of the Special Task Force for Jammu Division:

a)-MSE-CDP Projects

b) Recommendations of Projects under Special Task Force for Jammu Division:-

Although the number of Small Scale Industrial units in the State has gone up. There are cases of sickness of units with some of them having become non-functional and others simply untraceable due to a number of reasons like financial crunch, law and order problem, marketing problem, non-availability of raw material and migration. The comparisons of functional units thrown out by industrial census 2001-02 and 2006-07 are indicated in the table below:-

Rehabilitation of Sick SSI units
For rehabilitation of sick units, the State Govt. has accepted to provide soft loan to the extent of 30% of total requirement to potentially viable Sick units for their revival under Rehabilitation Policy. The number of such units has been identified to be 158. Out of these units, 71 units have been approved by SLRC involving an amount of Rs.1517.91 lakh. Out of these, 24 cases have been sanctioned involving a soft loan of Rs.369.38 lakh by the State Level Rehabilitation Committee.
Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)
The Government of India, Ministry of MSME, New Delhi are funding a Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme called "Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)" for generation of employment opportunities through establishment of Micro units in Rural as well as in Urban areas. This scheme is being implemented by three agencies viz KVIB of State and KVIC of Center in Rural areas and DICs in both Urban and Rural Areas. The targets and achievement made by KVIB & DICs during 2011-12, 2012-13 & 2013-14 and 2014-15 (ending Nov.,2014) is detailed as under:-