Opinion: 'Build Here' Is Good Advice. Here Is What Students Should Ask Before They Do

"Take ownership of your city and Jammu and Kashmir." That was the advice Rahul Sahai, Chairman of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Jammu chapter and a former chairman of CII J&K and PHDCCI Jammu, gave students at a Leadership Talk at MIET's School of Management on 14 October, as reported by Greater Kashmir. He urged them to explore what they can build in the region rather than looking only outside it, and to become entrepreneurs and job creators.

It is good advice. This is an opinion on how a student can test it before betting a degree on it, and it is not an endorsement of any person, scheme or bank.

What was actually said

Sahai pointed to sectors he sees as open to young founders: IT services, Global Capability Centres, tourism and religious tourism, logistics, workforce solutions, and sports ventures such as pickleball courts, indoor sports facilities and cricket academies. He encouraged students to look at Mission YUVA and other government schemes, and to find practical business needs, including helping enterprises access TReDS. He also said a smaller city does not limit ambition, and urged students to think about serving wider markets and earning international revenue from J&K.

The report records no figures for how large any of those opportunities is in Jammu, so none are claimed here.

What the public numbers say about the financing step

For a founder, the first hurdle is usually a loan. A review of Mission YUVA by its Apex Committee, reported by Kashmir Life and summarised in our own update, gives the clearest recent snapshot. As of 7 September the mission had received 1,42,196 applications. Sanctions stood at Rs 1,992 crore across 37,171 accounts and disbursements at Rs 1,826 crore across 32,665 accounts. Operational enterprises had risen to 13,597, with another 6,777 at the work-in-progress stage.

Our own arithmetic from those figures: 37,171 sanctioned accounts against 1,42,196 applications is about 26 per cent. That is a rough ratio of totals, not a measure of any single month, and applications still in the pipeline are included in the denominator. The report gives a better sign of direction: the final sanction rate by commercial banks improved from 23 per cent in July to 40 per cent in August, with banks processing about 2,800 applications a month.

The same review says 36,474 students and entrepreneurs have completed training and certification, and 2,645 entrepreneurs have been mentored by 482 mentors. It does not break the numbers down by district, so we cannot say how many of them are in Jammu.

Four questions worth asking before you build here

• Who is the first paying customer? A scheme can fund a shop, not create demand for it. Write down who will pay in the first three months.
• What does the loan process ask for, and how long does it take? Ask the bank branch and the District Level Implementation Committee for the current checklist and timeline in writing. The review above suggests approval rates move from month to month.
• What can you sell beyond Jammu? Sahai's point about wider markets is practical only if the product can be shipped or delivered outside the city.
• Who will mentor you? The mentorship numbers above are small relative to applications. Ask early whether a mentor is available in your sector.

What we do not know

We do not have a Jammu-specific figure for sanctions, the time a loan takes, or how many of the 13,597 operational enterprises are in Jammu city or its surrounding belt. We also have no independent figure on how many graduates stay in the region. The Kashmir Life report also relies on officials' statements at a review meeting, and the figures are as of 7 September. Anyone planning a loan application should check the current position with the bank or the mission's district office.

The useful point is narrow. "Build here" is a decision with costs, and the public numbers show a financing pipeline that is improving but still sanctions only a fraction of applications. A student who goes in with a customer, a checklist and a mentor is better placed than one who goes in with only a slogan.

Sources: Greater Kashmir, 15 October 2026; Kashmir Life (Mission YUVA Apex Committee review, via our update linked above). Photo: Greater Kashmir, from the MIET talk. For earlier JammuBeat coverage of the scheme, see a plain-English guide to Mission YUVA.