With the launch of the Start-Up Policy and its schemes, the expectations amidst the Information and Technology community, has propelled. With great fanfare the schemes were delivered on the Start-Up Day (April 28) by the Union Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation Minister, Suresh Prabhu along with the Minister for IT, Labour and Employment and Revenue, Government of Goa, Rohan Khaunte. Several programmes have been announced and planned for making Goa a hub for IT and start-ups.
Even though the policy and schemes showed that the effort was made to make the schemes more inclusive, a large section of the start-up community which is not tech is feeling ‘left out’.
“The policy has completely turned a blind eye to start-ups such as Sevarat which is into providing personalised healthcare assistance for the elderly. Despite bringing it to the attention of the IT minister of Goa when we were consulted before the formulation of the policy and his personal assurance and the long wait, the policy has failed to meet our expectations. The Goan start-up policy is almost synonymous with the IT policy. Goa which is the cradle of service industry today with tourism, wellness, hospitality etc being big contributors to the Goan economy, this is a very big miss. The service Industry is an integral part of our economy, if the start-ups in this segment are ignored at the policy level, this is a recipe for disaster,” said managing director of Sevarat, Rohini Gonsalves.
She went on to add that, “the service sector has needs identical to the IT industry like finance, marketing assistance, mentoring, incubation, tax benefits, incentives to hire local manpower etc which the policy has completely ignored. Without that, the scale is tilted and it’s downright unfair. Goa needs an urgent and immediate review and correction of its start-up policy 2018 to make it more inclusive and have a broader scope from the word go. Without that, start-ups can see the writing on the wall.”
Founder of Zaggar Shaving Pvt Ltd Vittorio Velho said, “I personally feel that the policy and schemes are very myopic. It takes out of the equation the possibilities of major innovations that could and are being created by entrepreneurs in various other fields that may have a larger direct and indirect impact on the economy. Just trying to hope for the emergence of another unicorn in the IT space does not justify leaving out the rest of the start-up ecosystem in the lurch. The policy and initiative has to be widened for real material changes to take place.”
Founder of Make It Happen, Maria Victor also feels that the current policy is only for tech companies. “We are looking forward to policies that consider social enterprises, that focusses on issues like improving an environment issue, conservation of art culture and traditional occupations, marine conservation, healthcare, rural development, organic planting techniques etc.This is a growing business segment globally and rest of India and small start-ups are seeing fantastic levels of revenue while creating a social impact,” said Ms Victor.
She feels that Goa has immense creative talent and has the potential of being a hub for cultural and creative industries like advertising, architecture, books, movies, music, newspapers/magazines, performing arts, radio, television and visual arts. “Currently the Start-Up Policy and schemes by EDC cannot be availed by these sectors. The schemes are only conducive to manufacturing and IT sector,” lamented Maria Victor.
Dr Maria Cordeiro, founder of Goan Pharma Pvt Ltd is of the view that the Start Up Policy is very selective in promoting only technology sector which is not the only field in Goa that needs nurturing. “I have attended the talks at the start-up scheme launch function, wherein the speakers, exhibitors and majority of the audience were supporting technology. The export promotion was also inclined towards technology. Rohan Khaunte, Goa’s IT Minister, has publicly said that we want to promote the concept of IT anywhere. This policy is for everybody who wants to set up anywhere in Goa.”
Founder of Nativefolks Ashwani Krishna said, “The Goan start-up policy and schemes look very promising. It has many elements supporting the IT sector. It can consider the social, cultural and environmental impact on community rather than looking at simply the number of local people employed. Some of the State developmental goals can also be realized by supporting the social enterprises.”
