JAMMU, JANUARY 04 (KNS): Guided by the Prime Minister’s vision of “Viksit Bharat 2047,” Jammu & Kashmir is today scripting a new chapter of self-reliance and entrepreneurship. At the heart of this transformation stands Mission YUVA, a historic initiative that is connecting the youth of the Union Territory with skills, opportunities and dignity, while fundamentally reshaping the idea of employment.
Conceived by the Government of Jammu & Kashmir in collaboration with IIM Jammu, NABARD, J&K Bank, other financial institutions and livelihood experts, Mission YUVA is rooted in data-driven planning and institutional reform. At the time of its conceptualization, the Government undertook a diagnostic assessment of the region’s employment and entrepreneurship ecosystem. The assessment revealed that unemployment was not merely a function of limited jobs or finance, but of a disconnect between aspiration and access—where entrepreneurial intent existed, but systems to nurture it were weak.
Understanding the Challenge and Gaps
On the demand side gaps, entrepreneurship was constrained by fear of failure, lack of guidance and limited awareness of schemes and credit products. Many youth perceived enterprise creation as risky, bureaucratic and inaccessible, preferring low-paying daily wage work over uncertain entrepreneurial journeys.
On the supply side, the absence of a dedicated grassroots institutional framework for entrepreneurship, limited capacity at the field level, weak linkage with academic institutions and complexity in banking processes further restricted enterprise creation. Importantly, there was little hand-holding after loan rejection, leaving aspiring entrepreneurs without direction.
Mission YUVA was therefore designed not as a standalone scheme, but as a comprehensive ecosystem intervention.
Data-Led Design and Ambition
A defining feature of Mission YUVA is its evidence-based design. A comprehensive baseline survey covering over 24 lakhs households and more than 1.1 crore individuals identified 5.5 lakhs potential entrepreneurs across the Union Territory. This unprecedented exercise provided the Mission with a strong empirical foundation.
Designed for youth in the age group of 18–59 years, Mission YUVA aims to facilitate the creation of 1.37 lakh enterprises through four focused interventions: creation of Nano Enterprises, establishment of new MSMEs in sunrise and priority sectors, acceleration of existing enterprises, and promotion of neo-innovative enterprises. Through these integrated interventions, the Mission seeks to generate approximately 4.25 lakh employment opportunities over a period of five years. Implemented by the Labour & Employment Department with active support from district administrations, the Mission focuses on structured credit linkage, institutional facilitation and sustained hand-holding to ensure enterprise viability.
Strong Governance and Institutional Backbone
Mission YUVA is supported by a robust governance structure. Progress is monitored at the apex level personally by the Chief Secretary, with strategic oversight from the Administrative Secretary, Labour & Employment Department. A dedicated Mission Director provides focused administrative leadership.
At the district level, District Level Implementation Committees (DLICs) chaired by Deputy Commissioners oversee scrutiny and approval of proposals, convergence with line departments and coordination with banks. Small Business Development Units (SBDUs) at the district level, and Business Help Desk(BHDs) at the Sub-division level function as the Mission’s operational arm, providing end-to-end support—from awareness generation and DPR preparation to loan facilitation, post-sanction mentoring and business sustenance.
Four Pillars of Mission YUVA
Mission YUVA is anchored on a four-pillar framework—Culture, Capital, Capacity and Connectivity—each addressing a critical constraint in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Culture: Building an Entrepreneurial Mindset and Ecosystem
The first pillar focuses on changing mindsets. Over 2,000 YUVA Doots were trained and deployed across the Union Territory, conducting more than 5,000 awareness camps in panchayats and urban wards. Special camapign under Udyam Jagriti has been launched in phases. Special emphasis was placed on first-generation entrepreneurs, women in general and particularly those already part of SHGs and youth from remote and border areas. The objective was clear—to normalise entrepreneurship as a respectable and achievable livelihood option, and to inspire youth to become job creators rather than job seekers.
Capital: Making Finance Accessible and Low-Risk
Under the Capital pillar, Mission YUVA introduced a transformative intervention—the Nano Enterprise concept, implemented for the first time at scale within micro-enterprise financing. Secondary research and baseline survey findings revealed that most aspiring entrepreneurs wished to start businesses in the ?5–6 lakh investment range. By legitimising small, low-risk and locally viable enterprises, the Nano model made entrepreneurship approachable and reduced fear of over-leverage.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
Nano Enterprises receive 25 percent capital subsidy and 5 percent interest subvention, while MSMEs in focus sectors such as agri tech, food processing, renewable energy, tourism and IT receive 6 percent interest subvention. This structure ensures that access to capital becomes an enabler rather than a barrier. Also, there is provision of acceleration of existing enterprises which receive 6 percent interest subvention.
Mission YUVA also corrected the urban bias of earlier schemes by expanding outreach and receiving applications from over 95 percent of panchayats, ensuring that entrepreneurship promotion reached remote and border areas and became a household-level aspiration.
Capacity Building: Future-Ready Entrepreneurs
Capacity building under Mission YUVA was designed as a continuous capability creation process. A Hybrid Course Model combines curated digital content from the Skill India Digital Hub with instructor-led classroom delivery. This blended approach ensures conceptual clarity while addressing digital literacy gaps among first-generation entrepreneurs.
The curriculum covers entrepreneurship fundamentals, financial literacy, digital skills, cyber security awareness and introductory concepts of Artificial Intelligence. Training follows a rolling model—5,500 applicants have completed training, 2,500 are currently undergoing training, and 1,500 are registered for upcoming batches—creating a steady pipeline of digitally and financially capable entrepreneurs.
This is reinforced through a dual system of training, combining institutional instruction with community-driven Enterprise mentorship. Mentors drawn from local communities provide contextual guidance, building trust and transforming entrepreneurship from an individual risk into a collective journey.
Connectivity: Linking Enterprises to Markets and Technology
The Connectivity pillar integrates enterprises with markets and digital platforms. Leveraging the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), the J&K Seller App enables local products to reach national markets. Innovation is further supported through two Innovation Hubs at IIM Jammu and 14 Incubation Centres across universities, with government funding of up to ?20 lakh for innovative projects.
Digital Backbone: Mission YUVA App
The entire Mission YUVA initiative is driven through the Mission YUVA App and Portal, developed by BISAG-N as a secure, end-to-end digital platform. The App integrates a AI based DPR generator, a Skill Learning Hub with over 25,000 videos, and information on career pathways and employment opportunities, creating a comprehensive digital ecosystem for aspiring entrepreneurs. It enables seamless application, real-time tracking, and transparent processing across departments and banks, significantly reducing procedural hurdles.
The Mission YUVA Application and Portal incorporate a robust Output Tracking framework to ensure transparency, accountability, and sustainability of supported enterprises. The system mandates structured reporting through Work-in-Progress, Completion, and Sustenance Reports, each subjected to multi-level verification. Only enterprises that successfully clear the prescribed verification stages are showcased in the live UDYAM Gallery, enabling real-time public visibility of verified and operational enterprises. This digital mechanism ensures outcome-based monitoring while reinforcing credibility and citizen trust in the Mission’s delivery architecture.
By anchoring Mission YUVA on this technology platform, the initiative ensures speed, transparency and inclusion—right up to the grassroots.
Impact on the Ground
Mission YUVA’s outcomes reflect both scale and depth. The Mission has recorded 1,59,327 registrations, with 65,353 applications submitted. Through a structured, multi-tier process, 44,857 proposals were approved, 13,324 cases sanctioned by banks, and 10,329 entrepreneurs have already received disbursements.
Banks have sanctioned loans worth ?756.28 crore, with ?594 crore disbursed. An average project cost of ?6.59 lakh underscores the Mission’s focus on inclusive, employment-intensive enterprises. Notably, over 77 percent of sanctioned cases have already been disbursed.
Together, these outcomes demonstrate that Mission YUVA has moved decisively from policy intent to delivery at scale, transforming entrepreneurship into a people-led movement across Jammu & Kashmir. By placing special emphasis on first-generation entrepreneurs, women particularly those associated with Self-Help Groups and youth from remote and border areas, the Mission has normalised entrepreneurship as a respectable and achievable livelihood option, inspiring young people to become job creators rather than job seekers. Anchored in evidence from baseline surveys and secondary research, the introduction of the Nano Enterprise model—tailored to the widely preferred ?5–6 lakh investment range has provided a credible, low-risk entry point into enterprise creation, firmly advancing the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat as a lived economic reality across the Union Territory.(KNS)