Four years ago, when Jehangir Raina, an Indian businessman based in Britain, decided to start an IT company in Kashmir instead of hot spots like Bangalore and Gurgaon, business analysts blanched at the risky proposal. But Mr Raina saw in this conflict zone what few others did: business potential.
'Initially, our clients were reluctant to do business with a company not based in a metro, but in a conflict zone in the Himalayas,' he says with a smile, lounging on a revolving chair. 'Once they saw potential in us, their reluctance disappeared.'
Over the years, I-Locus, Mr Raina's market-research IT company, has managed to woo more than 200 global clients, including Microsoft and Wipro.
Mr Raina has come to believe that more than the threat itself, the perception of threat dissuades the outside world from looking at Kashmir as an investment option. His business success story seems remarkable in a region that has been a crucible of terror and fear for 18 years. Nearly 40,000 people have died since the insurgency began in the early 1990s.
However, Kashmir's economy, growing at nearly 5 per cent - which appears sluggish only when compared to India's national rate of 9.2 per cent - defies the assumption that conflict stymies economic progress.
Surprisingly, the region belies most perceptions of a war zone - unlike most conflict zones, there are no bombed-out houses here, no empty shops and people living in abject poverty. What is conspicuous, in fact, is booming real estate and a populace that has a formidable spending power.
