PANJIM: Goa Startup Policy 2017 expired on September 26, 2020. According to Startup Promotion Cell (SPC), 100 startups have been certified in the last three years under the Goa Startup Policy 2017. Each of these Startups employs about 6 to 15 people on an average. All the startups who have taken benefits under the policy, their employees and families dependent on them are facing the brunt of this policy lapse. All the Startup Policy financial incentives are in the form of grants and reimbursements, which are rolled back into the economy through employee salaries, bill payments etc. All these indirect beneficiaries are also being affected in the process, said Goa IT Professionals (GITP) in a strongly-worded statement issued on Thursday.
Presently, eligible startups seeking promised benefits under the policy are being presented with excuses galore. They are being told that SPC is not processing any applications as they are awaiting policy extension. It is further claimed that the finance department has taken away SPC funds citing COVID emergency and is not releasing the required funds amounting to less than Rs 3 crore despite follow-ups by SPC and IT Minister.
IT professionals who have dared to take up the tough challenge of being employment creators rather than employment seekers, with a hope that the Startup Policy will provide some initial support during the teething phases, have been left high and dry.
GITP lamented that when it comes to processing Startups requests, complaints have surfaced time and again that the processing by the SPC happens at a snail’s pace.
The IT Department, which is expected to be a torchbearer of automation and efficiency, and has a self-declared service-level agreement (SLA) of 45 days to review and approve or reject applications, has been taking up to 6 months to do it even before and during COVID. It is understandable that the process of initial registration-related verification of Startups can take time due to manual interventions.
“But what stops the SPC from being punctual on, if not completely automating the release of subsequent tranches of benefits and incentives, asked the GITP members.
“At least in these taxing pandemic times when Startups are reeling under extreme financial and work pressures, a proactive approach was expected. But somehow no respite seems to be coming. It appears as though this ‘lapse of Startup Policy’ has become a convenient excuse for SPC to hide its inefficiencies if not incompetence,” said GITP added.
The further asked whether the SPC and IT department were unaware in advance that the policy was expiring on September 26 and that the new policy would be delayed? If it was not possible to release the benefits without an active policy, why were interim measures not taken to extend the policy time frame or take some other relevant mitigation measures? Validity of several government documents, licences, registrations etc related to transport, construction etc have been extended by the government due to COVID. The same approach could have very well been adopted in case of the Startup Policy renewal. Why was it not done? asked GITP.
Goa Government which is ‘over efficient’ when it comes to granting extensions to casinos, dot on the eve of the lapse of their permit, licence, every six months, even during these pandemic times, seems to be just indifferent to the lapse of the Startup Policy. Does this imply that a handful of casinos who are into gambling activity are much more valuable to the government as compared to hundreds of Startup firms who are toiling hard to create a decent livelihood option for themselves and hundreds of Goans here in Goa?, questioned GITP.
The release went on to mention that the government has even been prompt enough to give a waiver to the Casino industry on the Rs. 277 crore annual fees allowing it to be paid on a monthly basis instead. Is the ongoing ‘financial crunch’ excuse of our government applicable only for the Startups and not the Casino industry? Or is our government keen to promote a culture of Casino gambling and affiliated sin industries in Goa rather than the modern, progressive, innovation and merit driven Startup and IT industries for our youth to have respectable livelihoods in Goa? What is our government's priority?
GITP further asked whether "Atmanirbhar Bharat", "Swayampurna Goem", "Startups are job creators". "Startups innovate", "Startups are aspirations of youth" etc. just for sloganeering and juicy jargon tweets for shallow publicity?
“Will the Goa Startup Policy 2020, which is supposedly taking a consultative and participatory approach by taking all stakeholders on board, arrive only after all the existing startups suffer irreparable damage due to chronic apathy of the SPC and IT Department?,” GITP asked further.
“Our Goa government, IT department and SPC need to ponder on these questions and get their act together on a war footing without any further excuses, for the IT and Startup industry stakeholders and their educated employees themselves are driven by time-bound performance – making India a global IT powerhouse over the decades – and can clearly see through these bluffs and lame excuse unlike the mass electorate,” GITP added.