A group of very dedicated industrialists- those who formulated Goa’s investment policy, mentored by consultants and corporate captains, during Manohar Parrikar’s term, will be worried at CM Parsekar’s take on what Goa has to offer for industry.
In a nightmarish week, the Chief Minister has completely debunked the state’s official investment policy and made all claims – officially asserted in the investment document- as redundant. In a clear snub to his leader and predecessor Mr Parrikar, Chief Minister Parsekar, has perhaps sought to do some plain speaking by saying that there is scarcity of land and infrastructure and therefore the state cannot accept all applications for setting up industrial units.
The CM has clearly discounted the biggest USP’s of the Investment policy, tom-tommed by Parrikar- of getting investments of Rs 25,000 crores and creating 50,000 jobs. Parsekar has negated both. Saying that investments of that nature are not possible right now and the next BJP government, post 2017, would attempt it. Ditto for 50,000 jobs “Practically, it is not possible to create 50,000 jobs by 2017. But we are slowly working to create maximum jobs,” he said, with a degree of rare bluntness in a Chief Minister, who is only just managing to settle into the Chief Minister’s chair which he thought was too big. Remember his comment to HCN, Herald Group’s channel where he said “I won a lottery without buying a lottery ticket”
Without getting into the fallout of what his remarks will have on those who are pushing for investment, it is important to take congnisance of issues he is flagging. “We are currently identifying interested investors and simultaneously working on creation of infrastructure facilities like road connectivity, 24×7 water, power supply, broadband connectivity, etc.”
This is a sea change from Parrikar’s approach. The former chief minister actually wished away problems of land by saying that he would get erstwhile promoters of SEZ’s to part with 70% of the land which was given to them, before the government decided to scrap SEZ’s. Mind you this was meant to be a backdoor out of court settlement with parties whose actions were declared completely illegal by the High Court. However in order to get some land rather than wait for the Courts to grant a 100% land recovery, Parrikar had virtually announced that land would be available through that route. On power he was confident that the PPP power manufacturer, who would generate power from the captive coal block in Chattisgarh and supply to Goa, would deliver. That’s clearly not happening. Hence alternate routes have to be looked at.
What Parsekar is doing- at the risk of really causing the investment policy protectors jittery- is that he is not letting the contents of an investment policy clog his restructuring route. He is now preferring to draw back, assess his ammunition and arms and then going to war. By focusing on improving infrastructure and power and then inviting people home, he wants to cut his losses and the dent to Goa’s brand equity rather than follow the Parrikar path of making promises and then disappointing industry.
This might upset the plans that the Investment Promotion Board has, in the short term. But pragmatic elements in the IPB will appreciate that its best to work bottom up and then set realistic targets, rather than getting bogged down by the albatross of the big ticket announcements in the Investment policy, namely investments worth Rs 25,000 crores and 50,000 jobs.
Perhaps if we really watch Parsekar closely, he is cleverly and correctly toning down expectations and doing some reality management. It will be interesting to see how industry reacts.
