A Rural Self-Employment Training Institute giving rural youth one to six week courses, with food and lodging covered.
Poonch disburses ₹23,101 in small business loans per lakh population. The district trains 771.8 youth per lakh under short-term skilling, better than the typical district. The Rural Self Employment Training Institute prepares rural youth to use credit like this to start their own enterprise.
83% of registered enterprises are in services while 17% are in manufacturing. Only 1% of employment is in small and medium enterprises. 64% of school-age children are enrolled in higher secondary school (classes 9–12).
In Poonch, which ranks 18 of 20 in Jammu and Kashmir for youth opportunity, the overall opportunity score is 48.1 out of 100. The district runs ahead of the national picture on young people in the labour force aged 15 to 29 at 56.1%, while it lags on self-employed workers at 65.7%. On skilling trainees who get certified at 96.6% and women-owned enterprises at 20.9%, it sits close to the national mark.