KCCI Elections: Hope21 and Kashmir21 spell out agendas and priorities

21 April 2021

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Srinagar: The much-anticipated and crucial elections of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) are all set to be held on April 26, 2021.

This year’s elections elections, observers believe, are being held in the backdrop of an extraordinary economic situation in Kashmir. The elections are crucial for multiple reasons – one that these elections are being held in an entirely different economic environment post 2019; two, these elections come at a time when the overall business environment in J&K is quite subdued; and three, that these elections are coming right after the unveiling of the new Industrial Policy for J&K, observers believe.

Constituted in 1924, KCCI is one of the oldest apex trade bodies in the sub-continent. One of the important mandates of the KCCI is to promote bilateral trade, investment, technology transfer and also to facilitate business collaborations, joint ventures, marketing tie-ups and strategic alliances through various initiatives.

The 2019 executive committee, headed by Shiekh Ashiq (President) and Nasir Hamid Khan (Sr. Vice President), Dr Abdul Majid Mir (Jr. Vice President), Farooq Amin (Secretary General), Sheikh Gowher Ali (Joint Secretary General) and Manzoor Ahmad Pakhtoon (Treasurer), observers opine, got to navigate through a rough time of deep structural changes and the pandemic in Kashmir.

Pertinently, last month, Jammu & Kashmir High Court ordered holding of pending elections to the executive committee and office bearers of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) within a period of 30 days. Subsequently, a six-member committee was formed for the conduct of the elections, which, as per the directions of the High Court, will be held under the overall supervision of the Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar.

The upcoming elections are being contested by two business groups – Hope-21 and Kashmir-21, comprising some of the most prominent and active business houses of Kashmir.

“We are trying to offer hope and come up with a workable and thoughtful agenda that could ultimately help survive and thrive Kashmir’s businesses in these difficult times”, Faiz Bakshi, a key member of Hope-21 group, says.

Both the groups, comprising of experienced members who have the vision and the abilities to translate their agenda into practice, have stipulated their work priorities for the new stint in varied details. In order to generate a broader understanding about the agendas and work priorities for the two groups, Ziraat Times engaged with some of the prominent faces of the two contesting groups. Here are the excerpts from what they had to say about their work priorities, if elected.

Javed Ahmed Tenga (HOPE 21)

We will be releasing our vision document in the coming days. Issues and concerns of all business sectors will be our priority, none will be left.

KCCI represented the business sector of the whole of Kashmir and HOPE 21 plans to cater to all the business sectors.
We also plan to address the issue of bad loans and interest accumulations of businesses, as more than one lakh business accounts are under stress.
To me it is important to address the issues of all the business sectors in order to revive the business and a positive business climate in Kashmir. A positive business climate, we believe, would directly help in reviving the struggling economy of Kashmir.

Sheikh Feroz Ahmad (Al Khuddan-Ferozsons Export Pvt Ltd- Kashmir 21)

We are living in an unprecedented environment which is vulnerable to policy and operational change in the overall business ecosystem. It is important to safeguard businesses. In the last 13 years, for businesses, 3000 days were shut, including floods in 2014, 2016 lockdown and the events following 2019 lockdown, COVID19 lockdown. A lot of businesses have become sick.

In these circumstances, our agenda will be to resolve the core issues of the business sectors, to talk about the challenges of the GST regime which has hampered the overall growth. We also intend to take up the NPA matters of businesses with banks. Some of our other priorities will be:

To talk to the government of India (GoI) regarding income tax issues
There has been blacklisting of companies in Kashmir. That needs to be tackled as well.
One of our priorities will be tourism and handicrafts sectors.
Since 2014, there has been a downfall in the handicrafts business as well as the exports. Carpet business has gone down to Rs 100 to Rs 150 crores. In this sector, our priority would also be to change to world market attention towards Kashmir.
Kashmir takes a huge hit when any untoward incident or calamity hits the country. Kashmir is always at the receiving end due to the vulnerabilities already playing in the region. Policy prescriptions for J&K cannot be the same as they are in other states. And that is what we would try to work on.

Musadiq Shah (Pride of Kashmir – Kashmir 21)

First and foremost, we would try to get ourselves out of the web and start from the scratch. The double lockdown vis-à-vis post August 5 lockdown and Coronavirus lockdown has incurred a loss beyond imagination to each and every individual and company in the business sector. Some of my priorities will be to:

Facilitate engagement in addressing the problems with the government of India (GoI).
Talk about the issues regarding NPA with the banks.
Talk about the core issues in the tourism and exports sector.
Since there is no political setup, maybe, raise that issue as well.
Take care of basic issues like environmental issues about which almost nobody talks about

Ms. Nadima Nazir (Jamal Carpet Industries – Kashmir 21)

Jamal Carpet Industries is one of the premier manufacturer and retailer of hand-made carpets and shawls, etc with local, national and global presence and alliances. With over a 100 years of history behind us and the weight of 3000 weaving families, Jamal Carpet Industries continues its journey into the future without compromise in its principles of purity and craftsmanship in its products.

The people require representation; non-political representation. Our Chamber would like to provide a platform to commerce and industry in Kashmir to emulate global standards. We have the best of the best talents in Kashmir – both men and women in the industries of Healthcare, Tourism & Hospitality, Artisans, Handicrafts, Agriculturists, Botanists, Horticulturists, Education, Logistics and Transport, Food Processing & Manufacture, Information Technology, Trade etc. We have been neglecting this vast pool of talent – we have neglected Commerce and Industry. Basically, we have neglected our economy – an economy should be vibrant, one which can then help uplift the all the capable unemployed youth of Kashmir. Our endeavour would be to provide a Global Outreach and create Strategic Partnerships thus creating Competitive Solutions.

We shall create a roadmap for the next 5 years for policy changes, ease of doing business and share that with you as soon as we are elected to the Chamber. The reason I have said 5 years is because I want the betterment of Commerce and Industry in Kashmir with Structural Changes – these changes take time to implement and I hope that the road map we create is followed by the subsequent committees which would be elected during these 5 years.

Some of my priorities and work agenda will be

To be very empathetic towards the people – business communities, artisans, small businesses. They are not doing well and it is important to talk about their issues.
Monitor closely the business sectors in Kashmir like trade, horticulture, agriculture, retail, wholesale, etc
Cater to the neglected sectors in Kashmir like transport, fruit industry, etc.
Talk about taxes, VAT implementation
Since times immemorial business families in Kashmir have been paying from the pockets for their staff salaries because revenues have dried up. It is a moral responsibility of business owners like us to keep the staff and not disengage them.
I also want to set-up a non-political organization in Kashmir to address some of the core non-political issues concerning the economic sector.

Aqib Chaya (Hope21)

I think it is important to broaden the scope of KCCI’s ambit of work and engagement. KCCI has traditionally been dominated by issues related to arts and handicrafts. Times have changed drastically, so we need to reposition and address other contemporary issues as well. For example, tourism sector has not been given due attention in the past and that is the reason why there are separate tourism associations like KHARA, KHAROF. There is no incorporation of youth. Many people are planning to shut down their hotels due to the Corona pandemic. Usually, tourism gets hit first and is the last to revive. Senior people have been running the show for too long. But the contemporary issues require an in-depth understanding of present business and broader economic issues. For me, priorities would be:

Promote youth and young entrepreneurs, create a Youth Forum for business.
Talk about practical and achievable goals.
We also need to talk about the economic circumstances created post August 5, not just COVID19.
Our main focus would be economic revival, talk to GoI regarding financial stimulus which would be industry-specific.
Many sectors have done well like the pharmaceutical industry, FMCG. Industries like tourism, handicrafts have come down to zero. COVID19 has created a big mess for handicrafts since exports have gone down drastically. Industry-specific benefits would be our main focus.
One of the important issues is to work with banks for financial products which would have lower interest rates. We also need to advocate for provision of a greater time period for the repayment of loans.
On youth engagement, my priority will also be to develop youth business forums, have Podcasts, organize business events for the youth, provide facilitations and give recognition to the youth.

Nasir Shah (Kashmir 21)

Our action plan for the next one year will be:

To re-start the process of meetings and discussions on pending issues pending with GOI (including Finance minister, Home Minister and Prime Minister himself) due to abrogation of the article followed by the pandemic.
To provide equitable economic benefits to all the stakeholders particularly of Kashmir.

My priorities would be:

To work for the Tourism sector as in the past one year standard hotels and houseboat communities have suffered and only the ones having 3 or above stars have been benefited.
To provide for the artisan sector as exports of handicrafts have come to a standstill due to COVID-19 pandemic and it has hampered the artisan sector very much.
To address critical issues of other sectors as well.

This is first of a series of stories to be produced in the run up of the KCCI elections.