Rahul Gandhi-led business delegation to J&K promises support

SRINAGAR: At a time when chinar leaves start changing colours, signalling the onset of autumn, a business delegation has promised a new spring in the valley that is gradually reclaiming peace after more than two decades of insurgency.

The delegation, led by Congress scion Rahul Gandhi and comprising titans of India Inc, including Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata, on Friday pledged to play its part in bringing prosperity to Kashmir.

"What Mr Gandhi has done is not open a window but open a door," Tata said after an interaction with more than 700 students of Kashmir University.

Gandhi, who also used his two-day trip to hard sell the nod to foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, said he had kept his word to the students who had told him on his visit last year that they would like to discuss job placements with some of India's leading business leaders. "I think we have some of the brightest children in the room behind us. We need to work together with them and with other youngsters like them in Jammu and Kashmir to show them what can be achieved," he said.

Aditya Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh and Rajeev Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Auto, were also part of the delegation.

"It is for us as people in the industry to look beyond our normal places of endeavour to do something in Kashmir, to do something with Kashmir and to do something for the people of Kashmir that will bring prosperity and change," Tata said.

The delegation also attended a 90-minute luncheon meeting, hosted by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, with local business leaders at Taj Vivanta, managed by the Tata Group's hotels arm for the past two years.

"For us, it was something that we might not be able to manage even if we go to the World Economic Forum," said local businessman Sheikh Imran.

While Tata hinted at setting up a placement cell at the university, Parekh said HDFC could set up a centre within the university to train students in the requirements of the financial sector and Bajaj announced that he would consider setting up an assembly unit in the valley to serve the local market.