This is not the question of seeking to know who has bought the club and the brand, that all will be known in good time, but the ‘who else?’ refers to which will be the next Goan business to sell to a non-Goan company. This question becomes relevant as in the social media post announcing the sale, Ricardo D’Souza, a partner in the venture, alleged harassment by government authorities, politicians and non-governmental organisations that led to the decision to sell. He didn’t specify the harassment, nor did he name the officials or politicians, so they remain anonymous.
This is not about one entertainment spot out of many being sold. Tito’s is just an example. This has to be seen in the larger perspective of how the environment in the State is not conducive for business. Industry closing down and local businesses being forced to sell due to ‘harassment’ are bad signs that will not inspire new entrepreneurs in the State and will demoralise those that are already running. This requires immediate government intervention to create the best possible environment for business and investment.
What D’Souza said, asking the officials to employ the staff that now has no job, was, “By ‘officials’ I mean all the harassing lot, like police, PDA (Planning and Development Authority), CRZ (Coastal Regulation Zone), NGOs, panchayats and sarpanchas, block development officers (BDO), and deputy collectors…” These allegations raise the question of whether Goa is a business-friendly State? As Goa stands quite low in the Ease of Doing Business rankings – nowhere in the top 10 but at number 24 – the answer would be in the negative, and even a quick glance of what industry stakeholders have said in the past will bolster the allegations made.
In 2018 industry stakeholders in one of its interventions had admitted that while the State is quick in granting approvals for starting business, there is uncertainty in the subsequent phase of setting up of the business. One of the areas the industry had pointed out to had been agitations by the people and had suggested that a proper industrial and investment policy spelling out the nature of the units that will benefit the State and its people, and not lead to environmental damage or disrupt the social fabric of the State should be implemented. There has been no progress made in this area.
Two years earlier, in 2016, the then president of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry had spoken of the ‘unhealthy environment for industrial growth’ in the State and gone on to say that companies were contemplating closing down manufacturing units in the State. The chamber had listed names of industries that had shut operations in Goa in the past years to substantiate the charge. That was five years ago, and from the current happenings, the situation for industry and business has not improved since then. In the interveninng period industry has been alleging corrupton. If there has been any change it may be that the environment for business has worsened.
The alarm bells on ease of doing business in Goa have rung very often in the past years, but the authorities in deep slumber have not been alerted to it yet. Will this act as a wakeup call for the government and lead to some urgent and positive policy changes, backed by improved bureaucratic functioning? If that does not happen, we may well be getting the answer to ‘who else’ from business and industry will be selling off or shutting down. The government cannot merely set itself targets of investments and job creation, it has to allow industry and business to grow for this to happen.
