Soon after Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister of India in May 2014, he dreamt of making India self sufficient in manufacturing.
In December, 2014, at the “Make in India” workshop, state governments had agreed to a 98-point action plan for business reforms to all States and union territories. The objective of the action plan was to lay out the first of a series of recommendations targeted at increasing transparency and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of various government regulatory functions and services for business in India. Simplifying regulatory burdens on business at the state level is an important component of the ambitious ‘Ease of Doing Business’ initiative.
First assessment was to take stock of reforms implemented by states in the period January 1 to June 30, 2015 which was completed in October 2015 and the second assessment ended this year October. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire that was completed by each State and UT government. The responses were validated through a series of in-depth workshops with state government representatives, and the collection of supporting evidence on each of the parameters of the questionnaire. The evidence collected consisted of rules, notifications, circulars, website screenshots and a variety of other documents provided by the state government or found online to prove conclusively that the state meets the requirements of the assessment.
Following the completion of the data collection and state visits, the data was evaluated in detail jointly to ensure that the same yardstick was applied to measure progress for all states. The results of the assessment indicated that states have wholeheartedly embraced the challenge placed upon them to focus on further streamlining the regulatory burden on business in India. The assessment has also given rise to competition among states and UTs to undertake reforms.
President of Goa Chambers of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Narayan Bandekar told Herald, “We are not much perturbed by the fact that Goa’s rank among the states has gone down from 19 to 21. What is really disturbing is that Goa’s overall performance under the 340-point Business Reform Action Plan is just 18.15%. The national implementation average stands at 48.93%, significantly higher than last year’s national average of 32%. This demonstrates the great progress made by most States this year and we have to judge our performance against this background. If Goa has to catch up with the rest of the states and emerge as a good investment destination, it has a lot of work to do on the Ease of Doing Business front. Though the government has initiated some steps to speed-up the process, with barely two / three months to go before the state elections, perhaps it is too late to expect much result during this term. However, industry should set it as a major priority for the Government once it begins its new term in February / March 2017. In the meanwhile, industry / industry associations should also take lead and prepare the ground work for implementation of the remaining 275 action points – after all it is industry which will benefit most from these reforms.”
Member of the Investment Promotion Board (IPB), Nitin Kunkoleinkar said “The pattern and the style the government has adopted in ranking the state on ease of doing business is only in respect to the new reforms which has been taken up post 2014. What we need is to map the State on the hurdles faced by the industry by the government. As far as Goa is concerned, in my opinion the Goa government is not blocking any process for the industry. Our major problem is that we being the small State has some issues with the land and hence we have to be very careful in distribution of land. In fact, many consultancy firms and units are delivering certificates without proper mapping. Every State has its own sets of issues which cannot be measured with the same yardstick. There are issues with village panchayats here in Goa too.”
He added that specially after the Assocham gave its report and the government of India ranking Goa 21st in the ease of doing business has certainly led to strong introspection in the Goa government as the other stakeholders which includes industry and trade bodies.
“One of the saddest things which happend in Goa is that this news was taken as vengence by some people who want to settle scores, politically. Business and industry should not be part of politics as it is a matter of survival of Goa’s citizens and stakeholders,” said Mr Kunkoleinkar.
Stress was laid on the fact that it is not only the role of the state government to come forward regards the ease of doing business. “We need active involvement and engagement with all responsible trade bodies. We need to understand their role too in their effort to drive the State towards ease of doing business. These bodies need to identify the problems and come out with solutions to share it with the government,” added Mr Kunkolienkar.
However, the Chairman of Alcon Group, Anil Counto who is into construction, building, auto industry, cement industry etc is disappointed with the way Goa government is operating.
“It is quite disappointing. Everywhere there is corruption at all levels. Simple things like getting NoCs takes ages to get cleared and it only happens after several visits to the person concerned. The State is somehow surviving and it is just because of hardly five per cent people who are honest and are working for the development of the State. It is very difficult to do business in Goa and a nightmare for the upcoming next generation entrepreneurs. If it continues like this, we may land up last in the ‘Ease of doing business’ rankings. There is nothing easy in Goa.”
CEO and co-founder of Umang Software Technologies, Mangirish Salelkar is also of the opinion that going IT business in Goa was never easy. “Ofcourse, attempts have been made by government to develop the needful ecosystem for easy setting up and functioning of organizations. However it seems like the IT industry never gets priority. If the government gives us the needful support and push required, ‘Information Technology’ can definitely be the top earning industry for Goa. Thanks to the new IT draft policy, one good clause gives an added advantage to set up an IT startup/ company anywhere on Goan land, may it be commercial or residential. Every IT company in Goa is self made and doesn’t need government to sustain. However, a support will be great boost to this industry.”
