The Investment Promotion Board of Goa, the state touted vehicle for investment and jobs has got a sharp rap on the knuckles, by the most important stakeholders of Goa’s investment, IT professionals. The, uncharacteristic, but very strong remarks of the failure of government to clear a single IT project, by the association of Goa IT professionals, who have no political linkages, should be seen as the strongest wake up call for the Government and the Industries Department to ensure that the IPB works pro-actively with all stakeholders to ensure investments beyond hospitality and tourism.
The one remark of Vincent Toscano, who heads the Goa IT Professionals (GITP) body states more than any project or audit report ever could. He actually issued a formal statement to the media stating, “No IT project has been cleared by the IPB since its inception. This is after GITP and other such associations had helped the state government in coming out with an IT policy. We need to see more action on this front than mere words.”
Underlining the obvious deficit allotting sectoral priorities for investment, the IT professionals maintained “Hospitality and real estate need no promotion from the government. These industries will keep coming to Goa on their own, with or without the presence of IPB”.
It is time for the IPB to do some serious introspection and go back to the drawing board to woo manufacturing, R&D and IT industries. If you take real estate and hospitality out of the equation, investments have come mainly from expansion of existing units, While this cannot be ignored, IPB should take this as a challenge and course correct and get back to its mandate.
What has been lacking is engagement. The government will realize to its pleasant surprise that the IT sector, needs far less than what the government thinks. IT professionals have conveyed clearly that sick and unutilised units from industrial estates and unused government and private buildings can be utilised to set up a large number of small and mid-sized companies in Goa.
The IPB needs to take this into account and move out of its offices to market Goa, on the same scale that the Tourism Department purportedly does road shows and company visits. It’s a piece of advice that IT professionals have also given. Surely the very low number 19 rank in India on the “ease of doing business” must worry the Government. After all the reason why the Investment Promotion Board was set up, was to ensure ease of business. That has been actually hampered when industries have raised very embarrassing issues like power loads not getting cleared for businesses which have been cleared by the IPB. It took the Chief Minister of Goa to intervene and override delays caused by the Power Minister, to give the go ahead for power clearances for some major projects. This takes ease of business to its other extreme and creates a climate of extreme difficulty of doing business. This happens when one department like Power holds up and blocks all other intentions of fast tracking investments.
Hence, the call of the IT professionals needs to be heeded and auctioned. But perhaps more significantly they have to brought on board in a manner which is inclusive to growth.
