Team Herald
PANJIM: There is an urgent need to relook at strengthening manufacturing in the State. This suggestion has been made by the Economic Revival Committee which has been submitted before the Chief Minister.
“We need to come out with a fresh industrial policy for the State in line with the draft industrial policy released by Government of India. We need to work on export-led growth with thrust on designs, etc for sectors like engineering, electronics, packaging, etc,” the report mentioned.
“While the Indian govt will make attempts to attract some of the investments exiting China, it is strongly recommended that the State govt lobbies hard to attract a few to Goa,” the report adds.
The report suggests that ideally, we should look at Mothership Company coming to Goa along with its entire supply chain. We need to attract Industries which (a) Can create substantial local employment; (b) Have the ability to generate substantial tax and non-tax revenues; (c) Can create local value chain; (d) Are in the green or orange category.
Observations have been made that there has been a flight of industries from Goa and fall in employment in this sector since the last two years. Companies like D-Link etc have been trading in products after their demerger. SmartLink has reduced manufacturing considerably, Rosenberger has shifted its major operations to Pune, Siemens has shifted its bio-medical division to Bangalore and Schneider has done the same, and Diabold and Zenith Computers have closed down a couple of years back.
“The reason for this shift has to be investigated and corrective measures taken immediately,” the report said.
The ERC report suggests that there is a need to create a sound support mechanism for our existing industries and set an example to attract more from outside. While pharmaceuticals have very low potential for local skill sets, the state needs to work on engaging with them to create value chains in the state. With the coming of Mopa airport the supply chain linked connectivity needs to be strengthened, especially cargo movement by air and sea.
“We need to upgrade these facilities. Goa has an airport, seaport, railway connect, road connect within radius of 8 kms. However, all these are very primitive or are in poor shape, which increases the cost of operation,” the report says.
