J&K Chief Secretary Urges Enhanced Credit Linkages and Women-Led Rural Enterprises to Boost Economy

JAMMU, January 08, 2026: Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo today chaired the 9th Executive Council Meeting of the Jammu & Kashmir Rural Livelihood Mission (JKRLM) to overhaul the roadmap for women-led development and rural entrepreneurship across the Union Territory.

Reviewing the performance of the UMEED (NRLM) framework, the Chief Secretary emphasized the urgent need to strengthen credit linkages and elevate Self-Help Groups (SHGs) into sustainable rural enterprises.

He directed the immediate operationalization of Community Managed Training Centres (CMTCs) in every district to provide high-quality skill upgrades, ensuring these spaces become vibrant hubs for women’s empowerment.

A key highlight of the meeting was the ambitious new target set by the Chief Secretary to double the number of “Millionaire Didis” from 50 to 100 within the next six months, pushing entrepreneurs to look far beyond the basic “Lakhpati” benchmark.

To further deepen financial inclusion at the grassroots, the Chief Secretary called for a substantial increase in the income of Banking Correspondents (BCs) by onboarding Common Service Centres and J&K Bank to drive higher transaction volumes.

Secretary of Rural Development Department, Aijaz Asad, reported that the UMEED program has already mobilized over 7.84 lakh rural households into 96,000 SHGs across all 20 districts, with nearly ₹3,000 crore in bank credit accessed since 2013-14.

The mission has also seen significant success in the “Lakhpati Didi” initiative, with 2.01 lakh women already reaching this status through skill training and market linkages.

Moving forward, the JKRLM plans to scale these efforts by focusing on high-end handicrafts, food processing, and e-commerce integration, while establishing mini-processing units across 176 clusters to ensure Jammu & Kashmir’s rural products reach global markets via platforms like Amazon and Flipkart.