Team Herald
PANJIM: Taking a dig at the State government’s investment policy, the Goa IT Professionals (GITP) have said that the Investment Promotion Board (IPB) has done nothing new to bring in modern industries like IT.
“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,” says a statement issued by GITP. They further say that investments from these industries should not be counted towards the target of 50000 jobs. “The skill of the IPB and the government lies in inviting modern industries that are driven by knowledge and that generate quality products without affecting the state negatively,” it says.
The statement said prior to the declaration of the State Investment Policy, most of the investment came from the hotel industry and real estate.
“There was hope among the State’s youth that manufacturing, R&D and IT will gain prominence as thrust areas once the IPB is formed. However, the approvals given by the IPB show that the majority of investments continue to come from hospitality and real estate while there is only a marginal increase in other sectors coming mainly from expansion of existing units,” the release says. The statement further says there is need to improve the buying power of Goans.
“The government may argue that vast amount of SEZ land is stuck in legal disputes. Modern industries can work out of small distributed units. With a strong political will and little creativity, sick and unutilised units from industrial estates, unused government and private buildings, etc can be utilised to set up a large number of small and mid-sized companies in Goa,” it says.
GITP says the policies, committees, task forces and consultants matter only when they add value.
“The latest consultant KPMG needs to be given an aggressive time-bound target of signing up a large number of manufacturing and IT companies to invest in the State,” GITP says, adding, “They should also be given the task of preparing an inventory of possible locations that can be utilised by the industry. The amount paid to the consultant should be linked directly to the jobs they create in industries that have been identified as thrust areas.”
It further suggests the industries and IT department that need to be given equally aggressive targets. “The single window system is yet to be implemented. Road shows, company visits, email correspondence with potential investors, and every possible step to project Goa is the need of the hour. All other states are taking active steps in attracting investments by setting up time-bound processes for starting a business. In spite of being the State with highest number of government employees per capita, Goa ranks 19th on ease of doing business. We insist that the government takes steps on a war footing, most of which are absolutely obvious,” the release says.
