 "J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha at the foundation stone-laying ceremony for a mall by Dubai's Emaar Group, at Sempora near Srinagar in 2023 | Photo: PTI file")
The economic landscape of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), which is set to hold its first Assembly elections as a Union Territory this September and October, paints a mixed picture. The region has seen far less capital expenditure than initially announced.
Since 2018-19, the actual expenditure on asset generation has consistently fallen short of Budget Estimates. On average, J&K has only managed to spend 40 per cent of its projected capital expenditure. For example, the UT projected Rs 41,335 crore in capex for 2022-23, but the actual spending was Rs 14,666 crore. Similarly, in FY22, it budgeted nearly Rs
