Kashmir's New Code of Change

A generation of young Kashmiris is building tech startups that solve the problems they live with every day, from traffic jams to fruit losses, and silently reshaping the region's future.

- Sidrat-ul-Muntha

0 n an autumn morning in Srinagar, two young men stand beside a row of bright green electric bikes lined neatly near Lal Chowk. The bikes hum softly as they connect to charging docks. Commuters stop, curious. A college student unlocks one with a QR code and rides away through the narrow streets.

That small moment captures what is changing in Kashmir.

The bikes belong to Curv Ebikes, a startup founded in 2023 by Sheikh Yameen and Zubair Bhat. The idea was simple: make travel easier and cleaner in a city where traffic often crawls. They began with 50 bikes. Two years later, there are 150 bikes and 11 stations across Srinagar.

"We wanted people to feel that movement here could be efficient and sustainable," says Yameen, standing by the riverfront. "Each ride saves a few minutes and a bit of air."

Curv's 80,000 rides have already reduced emissions equal to what 7,500 trees would absorb. The bikes have also given part-time jobs to students and delivery riders. They're planning to expand to other hill towns that face similar transport problems.

This kind of story is becoming common. More and more young Kashmiris are turning their frustrations into ideas. They are designing apps, building networks, and finding solutions to everyday problems that had once seemed too ordinary to solve.

For years, many graduates dreamed of only one thing: a secure government job. It promised stability in a place that rarely offered it. Now, a silent shift is underway. Students from engineering and business schools are beginning to see entrepreneurship as a path to empowerment.