Srinagar, Sep 16 (KNO): Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today chaired a comprehensive review meeting to assess the progress and functioning of the J&K MSME Health Clinic, a digital initiative aimed at monitoring, diagnosing and revitalizing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across the Union Territory through timely assessment and targeted interventions.
The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary, Public Works Department; Commissioner Secretary, Industries & Commerce Department; Director Industries & Commerce, Jammu/Kashmir; Director Handloom & Handicrafts, Kashmir/Jammu; Representatives from IIM-Jammu, J&K Bank besides other senior officers of the Industries & Commerce Department.
The meeting reviewed the expansion of the programme’s diagnostic coverage, the status of field-level assessments, institutional arrangements for rehabilitation, financial interventions and the use of digital tools for monitoring and follow-up of stressed industrial units.
Taking stock of the progress achieved, the Chief Secretary directed the Industries and Commerce (I&C) Department to accelerate field visits and strengthen the operational capacity of Small Business Development Units (SBDUs). He called for ensuring the mandatory expansion of SBDUs so as to adequately equip them to undertake assessment, handholding and follow-up of MSMEs in a coordinated and result-oriented manner.
The Chief Secretary further stressed for completing diagnostic profiling and preparing actionable revival plans for all 6,576 identified recoverable units. He stressed that the assessment exercise should now translate into structured interventions, with periodicalfollow-up and monitoring of the recommendations emerging from the Health Clinic.
Earlier, the Commissioner Secretary, I&C, Vikramjit Singh apprised the meeting that the MSME Health Clinic is presently monitoring a portfolio of 3,42,261 registered MSME units, out of which 2,94,014 units have undergone diagnostic assessment. The analysis revealed that 2,87,332 units, constituting 97.7 per cent of the assessed portfolio, have been found completely stable.
He further revealed that the assessment has identified 6,682 units requiring active intervention, including 6,576 units classified as recoverable and 106 units identified as prone to chronic sickness. Additionally, he made out that 48,247 units have been referred back to J&K Bank for data correction, enabling further refinement of the database and more accurate assessment of the concerned enterprises.
It was also divulged that in order to strengthen the field-level implementation mechanism, District level core teams have been institutionalized across all districts. Each SBDU has Investment Promotion Officer (IPO) from the respective District Industries Centre (DIC) and a District Nodal Officer (DNO) from the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI), a consultant and other members of SBDU. In addition to that 60 more consultants are being provided to SBDU out of which 10 have been deployed till date and process of others is underway.
The meeting was apprised that the field teams have so far conducted 581 factory visits, resulting in the preparation of 317 comprehensive diagnostic reports. Of these, 34 critical rehabilitation cases have received formal approval from the District Level Advisory Committee (DLAC).
On the financial intervention front, the meeting was informed that details of 700 loans restructured by J&K Bank are under detailed analysis to assess the scope for further interventions and align financial support with the requirements emerging from the Health Clinic assessments.
The meeting also reviewed the digital systems developed for strengthening the delivery and monitoring of the initiative. The I&C Department has deployed a dedicated end-to-end action-tracking portal, along with an integrated AI-powered chatbot, to facilitate systematic tracking of cases and improve coordination among the concerned stakeholders.
Reiterating the importance of timely support to stressed enterprises, the Chief Secretary emphasized that the Health Clinic should evolve into an effective mechanism for early diagnosis, coordinated rehabilitation and sustained monitoring of MSMEs. He stressed that the true measure of the initiative’s success would lie in its ability to convert assessments into effective interventions and deliver tangible, visible outcomes in terms of enterprise sustainability, competitiveness and industrial growth across Jammu and Kashmir—(KNO)