J&K Bank and Mission YUVA on Wednesday marked the conclusion of the ‘Big Week Campaign’, with the Bank disbursing loans to more than 3,100 aspiring entrepreneurs during the campaign.
The closing ceremony was held at the Bank’s Corporate Headquarters and co-presided over by J&K Bank MD & CEO Amitava Chatterjee and Secretary to Government, Labour & Employment and Revenue Department, Kumar Rajeev Ranjan, in the presence of Director Employment and Mission Director, Mission YUVA, Harvinder Singh (IAS).
The event was attended by Chief General Manager Ashutosh Sareen, General Managers Sanjay Gupta and Suresh Kumar Chowdhary, Deputy General Managers Rosy Tikoo, Shamim Ahmad and Abdul Majid, besides other senior officers. The Bank’s divisional heads and all zonal and cluster heads across J&K participated virtually.
Thanking the Bank for its role in the initiative, Kumar Rajeev Ranjan said J&K Bank had been an integral partner in Mission YUVA since its conceptualisation.
“I thank the Bank’s leadership, particularly MD & CEO Amitava Chatterjee, and its entire field-level team for their committed role in advancing this transformative programme,” he said.
Emphasising the importance of dignified employment, Ranjan said every loan disbursed represented more than a financial transaction, as it helped guide individuals towards entrepreneurship and economic independence.
He said Mission YUVA had attracted the attention of key stakeholders in the country’s governance system, with entrepreneurship and self-employment emerging as an important response to the challenge of unemployment.
Describing Mission YUVA as a significant initiative, he said the programme had the potential to emerge as a success story and provide a model for other parts of the country. Chatterjee said close coordination between the Government and the Bank had been a key factor behind Mission YUVA’s progress.
“The kind of ownership demonstrated by the J&K Government towards this transformative employment-generation programme—through comprehensive reviews and sustained follow-up—is unprecedented. Mission YUVA is a perfect example of how thorough groundwork can be translated into successful outcomes,” he said.
Chatterjee, however, stressed that creating enterprises should not be the end objective of the programme and called for continued support to ensure their sustainability and growth.
“Setting up enterprises alone should not be our objective. Their sustainability and expansion—supported through the second phase of Bank finance—will ensure their meaningful contribution to J&K’s GDP. All our operational heads must, therefore, ensure continued handholding and consistent guidance to these young entrepreneurs,” he said.
Harvinder Singh thanked the Bank’s leadership and staff for their contribution to the programme.
“It is with your unwavering support that we have been able to usher in an entrepreneurial revolution across J&K. In just over a year, Mission YUVA has achieved disbursements of around Rs 1,750 crore—an accomplishment in itself,” he said.
Congratulating the Bank team for completing more than 3,100 disbursements during the Big Week Campaign, Singh said the initiative would further strengthen the programme’s efforts to promote entrepreneurship across the region.
Earlier, welcoming the dignitaries and participants, General Manager (RAM) Sanjay Gupta said Mission YUVA was not merely a government scheme but an initiative being pursued with the objective of generating employment, promoting entrepreneurship and supporting the aspirations of J&K’s youth.
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