Srinagar, Nov 4: Jammu and Kashmir Bank has issued auction notices for 302 mortgaged properties between April 2025 and November 3, 2026, as it moves to recover non-performing assets (NPAs), triggering concerns among business organisations over mounting financial distress in the region.

The properties, including residential, commercial and industrial assets, are being auctioned under the SARFAESI Act after borrowers allegedly failed to repay outstanding loans. The figures are based on public notices available on the bank's website. Bank officials said auction notices from previous years were also high in number.
Although JK Bank has reported overall profits, traders and industrialists say businesses across Kashmir are struggling with rising costs, declining sales and accumulated debt, forcing some borrowers to risk losing their mortgaged properties.
Shahid Kamili, Head of the Advisory Committee of the Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) and owner of Himalayan Rolling Steel Industries, said industries in the Valley were facing mounting financial pressure due to high manufacturing and transportation costs.
He said Kashmir's geographical location, freight charges, GST, inadequate road connectivity and other financial constraints had made production expensive.
"Businesses are collapsing in Kashmir, and by March next year the share of employment in the private sector will decline further," Kamili said , calling for a comprehensive industrial policy with financial concessions and incentives.
He also urged financial institutions, particularly JK Bank, to take local economic conditions into account while framing lending and recovery policies.
Businessman Shakeel Qalandar claimed that more than 20,000 industrial units had become sick over the past three decades, citing prolonged disruptions and mounting liabilities.
He said business organisations had been seeking a One-Time Settlement (OTS) scheme on the lines of the State Bank of India's 2020 initiative to help borrowers clear legacy debt and revive struggling enterprises.
"There has to be a settlement to the legacy debt. The government is duty-bound to intervene to settle the legacy debt and support the revival of sick units," he said.
Qazi Tawseef, spokesperson of the Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation, said more than 20,000 small business units, including shops and trading establishments in Srinagar, had either turned NPAs or were under severe financial stress.
He alleged that stricter lending conditions, high interest rates and the absence of rehabilitation measures had added to traders' difficulties. The growing popularity of e-commerce had further affected physical sales, he said.
"We don't want any remission, but we want relaxation in banking policies so that our business survives," Tawseef said, seeking a rehabilitation framework for struggling traders.
The business representatives have called for policy intervention, flexible loan settlement mechanisms and targeted support to help revive stressed enterprises and protect livelihoods.
The growing number of auction notices has brought renewed attention to the financial challenges confronting Kashmir's business community, with traders seeking a balance between banks' recovery obligations and the need to sustain economic activity.