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| Prolonged turmoil forces young Valley entrepreneurs to wind up businesses | | | Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Sept 20: The ongoing turmoil has badly hit the business community in Kashmir with dozens of young entrepreneurs winding up their business in the Valley to shift outside.
Tourism, horticulture, e-commerce and other business activities in Kashmir have come to a halt since protests broke out after the killing of Burhan Wani on July 8. Since then, continuous shutdowns, curfews have badly affected business and tourism in the state.
"Kashmir is suffering losses of about Rs. 150 crore daily," a senior trader said.
Shahid Mohammad had started the restaurant in Srinagar last year after getting a loan from the bank. "I have to repay loan to the bank. I have suffered heavy losses for the last 74 days and am not able to pay the bank. Now I have decided to wind up the business here and start some small business in New Delhi," he said. "I have not been able to pay salary to my staff."
Mehraj Ahmad is another young entrepreneur who started online business few years back. "I regret why I started business in Kashmir. We have decided to wind-up our business here and do something in Mumbai," Mehraj said, who is from a well off family and had employed atleast 15 unemployed youth in the Valley.
The horticulture and tourism sector, the backbone of the state economy have been witnessing heavy losses due to ongoing unrest in Kashmir.
"With the unrest in the Valley, tourism sector has borne the maximum brunt. No tourists are presently in Kashmir," an official of tourism department said.
"We received 10 lakh tourists last year but unfortunately this year we have 100 percent loss in the sector," he added.
"The tourists prefer other destinations because of the prevailing situation in the valley," he said.
A fruit grower said that the industry had suffered exponentially during the current crisis in the valley.
The online businesses in Kashmir has been badly hit by over two month ban on mobile internet. Courier companies have also witnessing Rs 30 to 40 lakh losses on a daily basis in the Valley. The e-commerce had been booming in Kashmir for the last few years. But the blockade of mobile internet services since July 8 has badly affected the online businesses in the Valley.
"On an average daily, the courier companies are witnessing the losses of Rs 30 to 40 lakh due to prevailing situation," they said. "We are completely dependent on internet services. People are not able to book anything online without the internet," he said.
Before introduction of online shopping in Kashmir, courier companies were not doing well and at that time only few courier companies were working in the Valley. But after online shopping gained popularity, the business of courier companies has boomed and now around 25 of such companies are operating in the Valley, employing over a thousand youth. "No courier company is presently working in Kashmir. The strikes, blockade of internet has affected all courier companies. It is also not possible for us to deliver the goods due to prevailing situation. Courier boys are sitting idle at homes as parents won't allow them to move out of their homes due to present circumstances," he added. |
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