Srinagar: The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) Kashmir held a high-level meeting today with the leadership of the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to chart out targeted interventions for strengthening Jammu & Kashmir’s industrial and entrepreneurship landscape.
The SIDBI delegation included Chairman and Managing Director Manoj Mittal, Deputy Managing Director Sudatta Mandal, RXIL Managing Director and CEO Ketan Gaikwad, Chief General Manager (Direct Credit Vertical) Balbir Singh, General Manager (Chandigarh Regional Office) S. Sunil, and Mohd. Rafiq, SDE SIDBI J&K.
The PHDCCI Kashmir team was led by Co-Chair Himayu Wani, accompanied by Executive Committee members Nasir Shah, Billal Kawoosa, Madina Mir, Anil Sharma, Shabir Abdullah, Ubair Shah, Shahid Khan, Owais Raja, Urfan Shehri, Peerzada Amin, and Deputy Director Iqbal Fayaz Jan.
In his opening remarks, Wani thanked SIDBI for its ongoing engagement in the region and said Kashmir’s industries are now in need of more focused and customised developmental interventions. He noted that despite positive steps taken since SIDBI’s Srinagar office became operational, key sectors such as tourism and horticulture continue to face disruptions that require more flexible financial mechanisms.
PHDCCI representatives presented sector-specific challenges, emphasising issues related to credit flow, collateral norms, and the mismatch between existing financial products and the seasonal or cyclical nature of local industries. They stressed that current lending and repayment structures often fail to accommodate market volatility and climatic risks affecting major sectors.
Responding to the concerns, Mittal assured that SIDBI would work towards collaborative solutions by involving critical institutions such as the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) and CIBIL. The aim, he said, would be to address structural bottlenecks and craft financial products suited to Kashmir’s economic profile.
Both organisations also agreed to jointly advance women entrepreneurship in the region under SIDBI’s SAHAS programme.
The meeting concluded with a decision to partner on adopting specific industrial clusters and developing a compendium of ready-made, viable project reports for aspiring entrepreneurs. The initiative aims to reduce risks for new enterprises and provide a structured blueprint for sustainable business creation.
