Since November last year, we haven’t heard about any activity on the release of the new (amended) IT Policy. IT minister Rohan Khaunte has however promised that this year the Policy shall be announced by March-end.
“What happened in the past, right from 1993 till date, let’s forget and move ahead. IT does not necessarily mean call centers and development centers. IT is now a declining business. Goa has already lost the bus by miles, nearly 20 years now. The government needs to take a leap to beat other states and this requires out of the box thinking. We need an edge over other states now. Goa should be a center for emerging technologies,” said Nitin Kunkoleinker, former president of GCCI and president of MAIT.
Last year a seven-member delegation of Goa Technology Association (GTA) had met with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to request him to consider releasing the new amended IT Policy as early as possible.
President of GTA, Mangirish Salelkar, had also presented some pointers to the Chief Minister which may have helped him and his cabinet to frame the new policy better. GTA also presented a document with data which they obtained after doing a survey of at least 100 IT companies based out of Goa.
According to the sources in GTA, Mr Parrikar assured the visiting delegation that the suggestions presented would be considered seriously before framing the policy. GTA had highlighted two major points to Mr Parrikar which could be done even before the IT Policy is launched. First GTA in its memorandum requested the State government to stop the brain drain from Goa. Secondly, they requested to allow IT anywhere and not be demarcated as zones in a small State or restricted at commercial spaces for its operation.
Herald has come to know that the new IT Policy is almost ready to be launched and concurrence of the stakeholders, have already been taken. In all likelihood, the last IT Policy which was nearly a 4-pager, the new policy will now have details and could go little over 10 pages.
The upcoming policy may also try to rope in about five major companies in IT sector as anchor units. Also, plans are afoot to create about 10 lakh square feet of space not only to establish tier-four data centers but also for allotting it to IT companies in Goa, which can create about 10,000 high valued jobs by year 2025. The government is also contemplating to give 100 per cent reimbursement to Goan IT companies for a period of six months. All of which will be ready, plug and play. Those companies which minimum of 50 persons of which 60 per cent are Goans and are likely to be given credence and incentives.
“Of what we are aware about the new IT Policy, it seems it is a favourable one for the industry. The IT minister, Rohan Khaunte has taken utmost interest after understanding our needs and is trying to give us a good policy which could be very progressive. However, we will wait and see how the implementation of the same will be done at a later course,” said Mangirish Salelkar, President, GTA.
Vice President of Open Destination and GTA’s managing committee member Milind Anvekar said, “Chief Minister Parrikar and IT minister Rohan Khaunte have set high expectations for the IT ecosystem in the State. We are definitely looking forward to having one of the best IT policies which would encourage the local setups and generate employment, better infrastructure and transportation facilities. It should also provide relief from old and archaic labour laws, develop skill centers and attract new start-ups. We are hopeful that we will not be let down once again and we will keep a watch at its implementation stage.”
