Kashmir's industries run on migrant labour. When they leave, everything stops.
Srinagar: Shahid Kamili still remembers the silence. On the morning of 5 August 2019, his steel plant in Srinagar's Rangreth industrial estate stood eerily still. The hot strip mills sat idle, the reheating furnace cold. Nearly 350 of his 500 workers, mostly migrant labourers, had vanished overnight.
Just a day earlier, on 4 August, authorities had issued an urgent directive asking all non-local workers to leave the Kashmir Valley, ahead of the central government's move to revoke Article 370, stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its special constitutional status.
By dawn, Kamili's Himalayan Rolling Steel Industries Pvt. Ltd, a ₹120-crore industrial unit, had come to a grinding halt.
'When 350 migrant workers left my steel factory in one go, I lost furnace technicians, mill fitters, and crane operators, the specialized labour needed to keep molten steel moving through the production line. No steel slabs were cast, no billets rolled, production stopped mid-cycle, and losses quickly piled up," recalls Kamili.
In the months that followed, without skilled manpower to restart full-scale operations, Kamili's company slipped into financial distress. Like hundreds of other industrial units in the region, it was eventually classified as a non-performing asset.
His experience underscores a vulnerability Kashmir's industries have lived with for decades: an overwhelming dependence on migrant workers from other Indian states to power its manufacturing, construction and horticulture sectors — and a recurring risk that political instability, violence or sudden government orders could drive them away, crippling production overnight.
The migrant backbone of Kashmir's industries
Industries in the Kashmir Valley have long battled political unrest, but one constant has been their reliance on migrant workers from Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab. From cement plants and steel factories to cold storage units and oxygen plants, these workers fill a labour gap locals are often unwilling to close.
For Malik Wajid Mushtaq, a 31-year-old entrepreneur, migrant labour keeps his ₹70-crore cold storage unit, Alpine Agro Fresh Pvt Ltd, running. At his facility in Lassipora, Pulwama — Kashmir's major manufacturing hub — 230 of his 300 workers are migrants handling apple grading, packing, and general labour, earning around ₹18,000 per month.
'Non-local workers are punctual and dedicated. We have tried hiring local labourers multiple times, but they often lack the same level of commitment. For instance, even a slight change in weather keeps them away. In contrast, migrant workers come here with a passion to work, to earn, and to succeed," says Mushtaq, an engineering graduate.
At the Industrial Growth Centre (IGC) Lassipora, home to around 350 business units, nearly 15,000 non-local labourers are employed. Aircraft engineer-turned-entrepreneur Sarwar Hussain Malik, who runs a packaged mineral water unit there, calls migrant workers the 'lifeline of Kashmir's industrial sector."
'Kashmir mostly has small-scale industrial units, but we still lack sufficient skilled manpower to fill even those needs. From operating machines to managing production and repairing faults, it is the migrant workers who handle most of the critical tasks," says Malik.
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According to the 2011 census, migrant labourers account for 80% of Kashmir's construction workforce, with an estimated 400,000-500,000 migrant workers currently employed across the region.
Why locals stay away
Despite steady industrial growth, convincing Kashmiri youth to join private-sector jobs remains difficult. Kamili, who also serves as president of the Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir (FCIK), explains the dilemma.
'Such is the obsession with government jobs in the Valley that local youth prefer to work as daily wagers in government departments for a paltry salary of ₹6,000 to 8,000 per month, rather than earn ₹25,000 to 30,000 as labourers in the private sector."
Shakeel Qalandar, a prominent industrialist, argues that to boost local participation, vocational training and skill development need urgent attention. 'Our educational centres need better infrastructure and updated technical courses that align with the needs of today's industries. Without this, the gap between job seekers and available industrial roles will only widen."
Srinagar-based economist Ejaz Ayoub points to larger economic disparities driving this dynamic. 'Most of the workers who come here take up menial jobs that locals often avoid. They come from extremely poor backgrounds, and for them, even the low-end labour opportunities in Kashmir are worth the long travel and effort. In contrast, our local youth, especially in the construction sector, shows minimal participation."
The underlying economics are stark.
'India has nearly 21% of its population below the poverty line, while J&K has only around 10.2%. That difference matters. In Kashmir, you do not see people sleeping on the footpaths or scrambling for daily bread. Most fall between the lower and middle-income groups. We are not very poor, and we are not very rich either, which is why many locals shy away from physically demanding or low-paying jobs. Every year, around 500,000-700,000 migrant workers arrive in J&K Union Territory to fill that gap and the local economy quietly relies on them," says Ayoub.
Seasonal cycle of hardship
Every spring, tens of thousands of workers descend on Kashmir for the brief construction season, taking up hard labour in masonry, carpentry, welding, and farming. As winter sets in, they return home.
Mohammad Majeed, a mason from Bihar's Purnia district who has been working in Kashmir since 2020, says the Valley offers better conditions compared to other cities. 'The weather here is ideal. I have worked in Bengaluru and Delhi, but I prefer Kashmir. The wages are also higher. We earn around ₹1,200 a day here, while it is only ₹800 outside."
For Majeed, who supports a dozen family members, discipline is key. 'I have never hired locals for the kind of work we do. They do not show up on time and can not work overtime when needed. For us, the focus is simply to work with dedication and efficiency to earn as much as possible."
In Sangam, Kashmir's bat manufacturing industrial zone, Tara Singh, a craftsman from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, who has been making cricket bats for eight years, highlights another reason for choosing Kashmir. 'We are respected and treated as any other dignified human being. Even in disturbed times I work without any hesitation and I am treated by people like their family members."
The pattern repeats across sectors. At the brick kilns, Muzaffar Ahmad, a young entrepreneur, watches lorries packed with freshly made bricks roll out. 'The bricks that build Kashmir's houses are made by labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Working inside those kilns is not easy. It takes blood and sweat. The heat, the soot — it is work most locals simply avoid."
Beyond construction, migrant workers are vital to Kashmir's orchards, paddy fields, and horticulture — the Valley's largest industry. The apple sector alone supports 3.5 million people and anchors the ₹8,000-crore horticultural economy. During harvest, migrants handle the plucking, grading, and packing of apples bound for national and international markets. Their labour fuels the journey of Kashmir's famous apples year after year.
Fragile industries in a volatile region
This reliance, however, comes at a cost. Periodic unrest and violence repeatedly disrupt the fragile system.
According to data available with Mint, a total of 36 migrant workers were killed in Kashmir between 2019 and 2024. In one of the deadliest recent attacks, terrorists opened fire near a tunnel construction site in Ganderbal last October, killing six migrant workers and a local doctor.
'When the workers leave, industries are unable to resume production for months. During that time, losses accumulate, bank interest on loans continues to grow, and electricity demand charges also keep adding up. The fixed costs do not stop, even when operations do. For many units, it becomes unsustainable. Shutdowns follow, and industrialists are left buried in debt," says Kamili.
The Valley's main industrial estates — Khunmoh, Rangreth, and Lassipora — are dotted with sick units where machinery lies idle and production lines have stalled for years. Some decades-old units, once run by migrant industrialists, remain abandoned since the 1990s insurgency forced owners to flee. Their rusting machinery and overgrown campuses stand as stark reminders of industrial decay.
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Even today, Kashmir's Labour Commission estimates that around 400,000 non-local workers are employed across the region. But as one official admits, 'Despite their large numbers, the sector remains entirely unorganised, with no formal mechanisms for registration or oversight. The informal nature of this workforce makes it difficult to track their exact numbers or monitor their working conditions."
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