A Common Facility Centre giving traditional craft clusters shared machinery, training, design help, and market access.
Kathua has 4,104 manufacturing MSMEs. 80.4% of self-employment loans go to the district's top industry. The Common Facility Centre under SFURTI gives artisan clusters shared equipment they could not afford individually.
84% of registered enterprises are in services while 16% are in manufacturing. Only 4% of employment is in small and medium enterprises. 70% of school-age children are enrolled in higher secondary school (classes 9–12).
In Kathua, which ranks 7 of 20 in Jammu and Kashmir for youth opportunity, the overall opportunity score is 53.1 out of 100. It runs ahead of the national picture on employment in small and medium enterprises at 4.4% and value added per enterprise worker at ₹1,86,069.