Big Indian power investment

The Indian government has announced that it is investing four billion dollars in power projects in Indian-administered Kashmir over the next five years.

The Indian minister of power, P R Kumaramangalam, said there would be seven projects and any future profits from them would go directly to the regional authorities.

He said he hoped the projects would provide more than ten thousand jobs for local people.

The BBC correspondent in the regional capital, Srinagar, says power shortage is widely regarded as one of the main factors behind the slow industrial development in Indian-administered Kashmir.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service