Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir plans to attract investments worth up to $4 billion in the next two three years and would provide security to businesses setting up shop in the insurgency-hit region, Jammu chief said on Saturday. Till August 2019, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was India’s only Muslim-majority state. Union Prime Minister Narendra Modi carved out a Buddhist-dominated enclave and designated both as federally-administered territories.

Tens of thousands of security forces guard the region where India has been fighting an armed-insurgency for decades, especially in the disputed Kashmir valley that is also claimed by Pakistan as its. J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said in a statement that his administration was identifying 6,000 acres (2,400 hectares) of land for businesses and that they would make companies feel secure. “We have an annual budget of 1 trillion rupees ($13.68 billion) for the region and a good amount of that is being used for providing security for businesses,” Sinha said in a interview with group of journalists in New Delhi.

The government was also working on organising an investment summit there after a delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, he said. “We are in touch with all big business houses,” he said. J&K, notably is one of India’s least industrialized regions, 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. 

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