Aug 14, 2025: Today, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Jammu hosted the 67th meeting of the Empowered Committee on Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) for the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh for the quarter ending June 30, 2025. The Joint Director, Industries and Commerce Department, Jammu; Assistant Director, MSME-Development and Facilitation Office; controlling heads of J&K Bank, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, J&K Grameen Bank, Canara Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, and ICICI Bank participated in the meeting, which was presided over by Chandrashekhar Azad, Regional Director, RBI Jammu. Additionally present were office-bearers from the PHD Chamber of Commerce, the Indian Chamber of Commerce, and the Bari Brahmana Industries Association, as well as representatives from the convenor banks of UTLBC J&K and UTLBC Ladakh. The Regional Director emphasized the significance of the recent India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which was signed on July 24 and has designated Small and Medium Enterprises as a priority area for bilateral cooperation, in his opening remarks. He mentioned that the agreement is expected to open up new opportunities for Indian MSMEs through increased market access and improved trade facilitation. Reflecting on the regional MSME landscape, Azad pointed out that the growth in the number of registered MSMEs in J&K and Ladakh has been remarkable, with the number of registered units expanding nearly 24 times in J&K and 22 times in Ladakh over the last four years. In J&K, there have been 7.47 lakh units and in Ladakh, there have been 18,708 units. Following that, the Committee looked at how banks did on a number of important metrics, such as TReDS, Udyam Registration, the flow of credit to the MSME sector, and meeting the goals that the Prime Minister's Task Force on MSMEs had set for them. NPAs, coverage under the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for MSE, sponsored cases under the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), and rehabilitation of stressed units were also topics of discussion.