Jammu & Kashmir new business registrations jump 28% despite Pahalgam attack

New Delhi: The number of new businesses that got registered in Jammu & Kashmir in FY26 surged 28% from a year before to 1,770, the official data showed, suggesting a strong recovery in investor confidence in the Union Territory following a lull in the immediate aftermath of the Pahalgam terrorist attack in April last year.

The incorporations, a proxy for the formalisation of the economy and investor appetite, had dropped by 22% year-on-year in both May and June of 2025, but rebounded from July, the corporate affairs ministry data showed.

Meanwhile, the number of companies registered in India in FY26 was up by almost 37% year-on-year to a record 247,755.

However, the cumulative number of active companies in Jammu & Kashmir expanded 21% at the end of FY26 from a year before, beating the 12% increase nationally, thanks to a lower percentage of firms shutting operations in the Union Territory last fiscal.

The number of such companies in J&K touched 9,900 as of March 2026, compared with 8,168 a year before.

At the national level, the number grew to 2.08 million from 1.85 million.

"Investors are looking at the long-term economic growth prospects and ease of doing business in the country in general, and J&K in particular, and are not swayed for long by any particular incident," said a senior government official.

According to experts, a sustained development push by the Centre, drop in overall terror incidents since the 2019 repeal of Article 370 (despite the Pahalgam attack), new incentive schemes, and more efforts by local authorities to address businesses' concerns have lured investors into J&K in recent years.