Kashmir chamber says losses have pegged to Rs 45000 crores
By: Muzamil Bhat CK
Srinagar
Clampdown of August 04, 2019 followed by two lockdowns in Kashmir valley has left the economy in tatters and the people are reeling under financial depression.
Most of the vulnerable sections of the society are having loans either from the private parties or from the private financiers. These lockdowns and disruption in normal life has resulted in the losses and according to the latest statement by the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry it has reached to 45000 crores.
According to the KNO quoting KCCI, a month-long lockdown from 30 April to 30 May this year has registered a loss of 5000 crore rupees alone, revealing figures worked out by the trade bodies of Valley.
According to the Kashmir Chamber and Commerce Industries president Sheikh Ashiq Hussain, the Kashmir economy suffered a loss of around 17,878 crore rupees in the first four months of restrictions and shut down in the valley post-August 2019.
This was followed by a nationwide lockdown triggered by the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 that cost the Kashmir economy 27,000 crore rupees.
As per trade bodies, the recent Corona lockdown has further taken the already crippling economy to silent off shores with people associated with trade and the economy estimating a loss of around 5000 crore rupees from 30 April to 30 May this year.
Chairman Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA), Muhammad Yaseen Khan said that around 50 percent of the traders won’t be able to continue the business as they have taken loans from financial institutions and they aren’t able to repay the installments.
“For the last 22 months, we have been hardly able to pay interest. To cope-up with the set premiums have become very difficult, almost impossible, which has turned the performing assets into Non-Performing Assets (NPA),” Khan said.
He said that if trade and business have to be rescued from the uncertainty, infusion of bailout packages is highly inevitable.
Figures available with the Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA) suggest that the Kashmir economy suffered a loss of around 27,000 crore rupees during the nationwide Corona lockdown imposed in March 2020.
While talking about the partial relaxation in the ongoing Corona lockdown, Khan said: “People from trade, business and transport owe money to banks and suppliers, and the economy has been on crippling end, which makes survival very difficult. The immediate remedy would be the assistance from the government, but given the ongoing pandemic situation, we want to wait till the Covid situation stabilizes and we will come up with our demands and submit the same to the government.”
“Even if the trade and business are allowed to work on all weekdays, we are on the receiving end, unless there is no capital infusion in the market,” he said.
With inputs from KNO
