SANDIP BHANDARE: I am very happy that I have been elected as the President of this very old 109 year-old organisation, which has been representing every sector of the economy. There are certain legacy programs and events, which the GCCI has been conducting for quiet sometime. We would continue to have such programs.
I would especially like to concentrate on industry and attracting industry to Goa. I believe that the function of every government and institutions is to provide employment to its local people and we will be a true industry body if we can provide employment.
HCN: What steps are you taking to achieve your target?
SB: Primarily, we are looking at industry suitable to Goa. We are looking at industry like IT, pharmaceutical, education etc. Each of these industries has different requirements. If you look at IT for example, we are working very closely with the IT minister, Rohan Khaunte to ensure that everything is put in right place. Some sort of plug and play situation, where the start-ups may not have to invest much. We are not looking at very large industries. Goa does not have that kind of a force and there are issues that having large industries there could be a reverse migration. We are looking at the units which could provide employment to 200 or 300 such kind of local people. I am looking to attract at least 25-30 of these units. We have got new industrial estates inTuem specifically designed for this sector and another industrial place at Chimbel. It will take some time for us to develop the infrastructure so I would put some kind of a target of 25-30 industrialists, each providing employment of about 500 or so to our people.
HCN: There are several committees in GCCI cutting across all sectors. What plans do you have for them?
SB: I always believed that a President alone cannot do everything. And when we are speaking about the GCCI, it is primarily the committees that are the ones which are responsible. We have several committees for industry, tourism, mining, taxation etc.
But I would primarily look at industries like tourism, industry committee even for example a logistics committee. My target is simple in this two-year period. Generation of employment for Goans.
HCN: How would you involve Goans to welcome industrialists who are coming from outside?
SB: I would put it this way, let us look at our own children when they pass out of college. Most of the brightest minds, I feel, are going for medical or engineering and others come for courses like chartered accountants. Goa has got 4-5 colleges which produces roughly around 350 to 400 engineers per year. Where are the opportunities for us? Do you want people to just go to Bangalore, Chennai and other places? What kind of an environment will they face and what kind of social issues would we face 10-15 years down the line. Therefore, our people should get employment. If you are looking at an industry then look at the ones which you feel is going to cost the least as industry is always a balance between ecology and development. Simple, as you build a house you have to cut a small tree around it. Therefore decide a balance for what exactly you want in terms of ecology and in terms of development. We surely want Goa to be preserved for the next generation but at the same time the current generation should get employment and they should be a part of Goa. Let us have a balance.
Never the less, this is the kind of stakeholder education I feel and we should do and we are going in that direction.
HCN: You talked about two major industries in Goa which are environmentally friendly, pharmacy and IT. Are we ready to welcome these industries?
SB: In some places we are ready. For example, govt has now announced we have an industrial estate in Chimbel. That apart, in Verna also if they want to develop, we are ready in a sense. But we need to progress it because while the industrial estates have been there, the back-end infrastructure has been lacking. There are some things which we got to work upon.
Our new Chief Minister is very dynamic but we have to prioritise what we want. Pharma of course we have a huge number of companies which are already there. It would not be difficult to pursue to have the units for expansion here. But obviously the question comes about land.
HCN: About 9-10% of the entire pharma manufacturing of India is done in Goa.
SB: Yes. We have a huge presence of pharma. See initially, we attracted them partly because of the tax environment. Goa has got its huge advantages. Take a place like Verna — port is close, airport is nearby, there is good infrastructure in terms of the roads and everything is there. Therefore there is a huge logistical advantage. We should utilise these to attract more units of such kinds. We are looking at even research based units which can offer the white collar jobs. Because it’s not just sufficient to have packers and people who are only looking at the supervise activity.
HCN: How are you helping educate people on GST?
SB: First and foremost at GCCI we believe that GST is a very good law that we should have had a long time back.
Our effort at GCCI has been to educate the traders to ensure that they are compliant with the GST law. And second is of course to develop the local talent who can take up this work of GST law. And the last portion is to assist the government in whatever way it could be to ensure that GST law becomes a success. Towards this, we are having a number of seminars.
