Jammu and Kashmir's L-G Manoj Sinha, who took oath last month has announced an economic relief package of ₹ 1,350 crore for the valley's ailing business sector, hit hard by Covid 19. A discount of 50 per cent for people of J&K in water and electricity bills for a year is one of the key highlights of today's announcements, which cover small and medium enterprises, tourism industry, among other sectors.

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"We have approved an economic package of ₹ 1,350 crores for Jammu and Kashmir's struggling business community. This is additional to the benefits of the Atmanirbhar Abhiyan, earlier announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Sinha said as he further stressed that "stamp duty is exempted till March 2021 for all borrowers".

Speaking to the media, L-G said, "A new industrial policy will be announced soon to revive the industrial sector, which has suffered huge losses after J&K's special status under Article 370 was scrapped last year on August 5."

Last month, he had said a panel will be set up to work out modalities for the economic revival of the union territory and extending support to its business community. Praising the committee, which submitted its report before the deadline (September 1), Sinha this afternoon said:  "This is for the first time here in so many years that a committee has submitted the report in the given time frame which was 12 days."

Shedding light on the latest economic package, he said: "We have decided to give 5 per cent interest subvention to every borrower from the business community, without any conditions, for six months in the current financial year. This will be a huge relief for them and will help in generating employment here."

"For one year, we will be giving a 50 per cent concession in water and electricity bills. We will be spending ₹ 105 crores on this. This will benefit farmers, normal people, businessmen, and others," Sinha said.

"Under the credit card scheme, we have decided to extend the maximum limit of ₹ 1 lakh to ₹ 2 lakh for people working in the handloom and handicraft industry. They will also be given 7 percent interest subvention. From October 1, J&K bank will start a special desk for youth and women enterprises," the L-G added.