Over 13,000 MSMEs assessed by JKMHC across J&K

SRINAGAR : Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo on Monday chaired a comprehensive review meeting to assess the functioning and progress of the Jammu & Kashmir MSME Health Clinic (JKMHC), a digital initiative aimed at diagnosing, reviving and strengthening micro, small and medium enterprises across the Union Territory.

The meeting besides Commissioner Secretary, Industries and Commerce and Director, IIM Jammu was attended by Executive Director, JKEDI; Director, Industries Jammu; Director, Employment and other concerned officers.

During the meeting, Chief Secretary issued a series of strategic directions aimed at strengthening the effectiveness and institutional capacity of the MSME Health Clinic. He emphasized the adoption of an advanced, Large Language Model (LLM)-based solution for conducting root cause analysis of stressed units, with a mature agentic AI framework backed by appropriate guardrails.

Healso directed that the system be trained on local datasets to enhance contextual relevance and explore development on indigenous platforms such as BharatGenetc.

Highlighting the importance of evidence-based interventions, the Chief Secretary called for the preparation of detailed case studies based on field-level diagnostics, citing the need for grassroots-driven analysis to inform policy and rehabilitation strategies.

He further stressed that capacity building should be a continuous process rather than a one-time exercise, directing that structured training programmes be conducted at least once every two months to build sustained expertise at the district level.

To strengthen institutional convergence, the Chief Secretary directed that experts from the Small Business Development Unit (SBDU) established under Mission YUVA be formally integrated into the MSME Health Clinic framework, with dedicated personnel deployed for implementation support.

He also called for inclusion of representatives from key institutions such as banks, NABARD and allied departments including agriculture, positioning SBDU as a nodal platform for coordinated guidance and execution at the grassroots level.

Clarifying institutional roles, the Chief Secretary underlined that IIM Jammu should primarily focus on training and capacity building, while implementation responsibilities should rest with field-level institutions. He further stressed the need to develop a robust pool of trained human resources at the district level through repeated and structured capacity-building interventions.

The Chief Secretary also directed the Industries & Commerce Department to convene joint meetings with the Labour Department and other stakeholders, while actively seeking inputs from leading financial institutions including J&K Bank, SBI and NABARD, as well as industry bodies such as FICCI, ASSOCHAM and CII. He called for greater stakeholder engagement to incorporate sector-specific expertise into the functioning of the MSME Health Clinic.

Additionally, Dulloo instructed that a one-day comprehensive workshop be organized, preferably in July, after completion of a round of assessments in both Jammu and Kashmir divisions. The workshop, he said, should serve as a platform to gather structured feedback and suggestions from stakeholders across sectors to further refine the initiative.

The Chief Secretary further reviewed the implementation of key directions issued during the previous meeting held on March 30, 2026, including development of an interactive chatbot, acceleration of health analysis, automation of health certificates, expansion of daily interactions and constitution of district-level committees.

The meeting was apprised by the Commissioner Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Vikramjit Singh that the MSME Health Clinic has been conceptualized as an end-to-end mechanism to evaluate the financial and operational health of industrial units using real-time data sources such as GST filings, banking records, power consumption and EPFO statements.

Based on this analysis, enterprises are classified into stable, stressed (recoverable) and sick categories, enabling targeted interventions, expert advisory and structured rehabilitation plans, he added.

Highlighting the scale of progress achieved so far, he informed that 13,357 enterprises have been digitally assessed so far by the MSME Health Clinic, out of which 86.26 percent have been categorized as stable, 13.36 percent as recoverable and a small fraction identified as prone to sickness. The initiative is focused on early identification of stress signals and timely handholding to prevent units from slipping into irrecoverable stages.

Giving details about the implementation of previous directions the Director, I&C Jammu, Arun Manhas informed that a responsive chatbot has already been integrated into the portal to enable enterprises to assess their health status and receive recommendations, while work is underway to upgrade it into an AI-enabled system for enhanced user experience.

He further divulged that district-level committees have been constituted across 10 districts to oversee implementation and enhance outreach. These committees, comprising representatives from the Industries & Commerce Department, JKEDI and Mission Yuva, have been trained extensively and will begin large-scale interactions from May 10 with a target of scaling up engagements from 20 to 200 interactions per day.

Reviewing field-level interventions, the Chief Secretary was apprised that 56 industrial units across Jammu, Kathua, Udhampur and Kashmir divisions have been surveyed in detail, covering 29 sectors. The survey identified critical, stressed and healthy units and highlighted key challenges such as high input costs, market competition, logistics constraints and working capital issues. These findings are being used to design data-driven policy interventions and rehabilitation strategies.

It was also revealed that over 60 industrial visits have been completed, with diagnostic reports prepared for several units and strategic rehabilitation plans finalized for critically stressed enterprises. Additional reports are in the pipeline and are expected to be completed by the end of May, while further field visits are planned to expand coverage.

On the certification front, more than 1,000 MSME Health Certificates have already been generated and issued to stable units, with full automation of the certification process targeted by May 10. The system also provides an option for re-evaluation to ensure continuous monitoring and support.

The meeting also reviewed convergence with Mission Yuva, under which all enterprises are being onboarded onto the UDYAM portal and subsequently integrated with the MSME Health Clinic platform. API integration between the systems is expected to be completed by early June, enabling seamless data exchange and streamlined registration processes for the times to come.