Bharti, others to invest Rs1,000cr in J&K

 "Many companies have proposed to invest in the state provided the government comes up with a support plan," Amit Mitra, secretary general of Ficci, said1.

 Bharti Group is planning to invest Rs 200 crore during 2006-07 for expansion and doubling its subscriber base in the state, Mitra said.

 Lalit Suri, chairman and managing director of Bharat Hotels, has proposed to set up a hotel in ski resort Gulmarg and a shopping mall in Srinagar if the state government provided adequate land, Mitra said.

 Kolkata-based Peerless also plans to set up a new hotel or take over and revive a sick hotel in the state...Continental Construction has proposed a power project... all the proposals add up to a total investment of Rs 1,000 crore, Mitra said.

 Inviting private players to invest in the state, Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad, said: "Flow of domestic private sector investment will be a vote of confidence in the extant situation in the state as well as in the emerging direction that the government is giving to the state."