Dear Press and Media community (165+ recipients in Bcc):
Here is our detailed GITP feedback on our latest Goa IT Policy beyond the summary we had published earlier on 04-Jan-2016 shown below this mail. This feedback is also being forwarded to the Goa government for their reference and consideration as appropriate in subsequent IT Policy revisions. For any clarifications you may reach out to any of our Core Team members marked in Cc on this mail with their contact numbers given below: *Gurudev Naik *(President) - 91672 60039 *Yash Ganthe* (Vice President) - 98224 75519 *Vincent Toscano* (Vice President) - 97654 10020 *Amogh Desai *(Secretary) - 98231 44405 *Gaurish Kambli *(Treasurer) - 99227 88878 *Inacio Fernandes* (Executive Committee Member, Goa Skills Registry Lead) - 97301 47785 *Sangeeta Naik* (Executive Committee Member, Project GEIT Lead) - 88051 62600 The recently unveiled Goa IT Investment Policy 2015-20 is definitely a respectable and realistic start “*provided”* it is effectively implemented without added complications to the beneficiaries and with a proactive pursuit of and support to suitable companies to generate IT/ITES/ESDM employment in Goa in a time-bound manner. If these results are not produced by this government before the next assembly elections then it would just be one more of our farcical Goa IT Policies and a big fat black mark on this government’s record for all the time it has lost in just getting the paper policy out despite its own promise to do so within 6 months of coming to power 4 years ago. Educated Goans, especially the Goan startups who have been struggling for survival and Goans in forced exile due to the man-made dearth of modern jobs in Goa, cannot be fooled with just a paper policy and hence immediate proactive action with tangible time-bound results is a necessity for this government to salvage its credibility. Recent appointment of a highly competent IAS officer, Ameya Abhayankar, as the Director of IT should help the government produce these results, provided he is enabled and empowered by his political bosses to get the right things done on a war footing now. GITP is pleased with his appointment since he was among the top 2 recommendations we had made to the Chief Minister, Laxmikant Parsekar, when we had demanded replacement of his non-productive predecessor Director of IT. *GOOD THINGS ABOUT THIS POLICY:* 1) A practical set of relevant incentives for an IT/ITES/ESDM company despite the delicate financial situation of Goa which is commendable. 2) Good to see incentivized encouragement for employment of Goan locals by investing companies. This is always a top priority for GITP. 3) Thumbs up to government’s declaration of setting up Incubation Centres across Goa! GITP keenly awaits government’s action plan on this as this could be the game changer for Goans to prosper in Goa especially given the related incentives of Rs.2 lakh seed capital and virtually free internet and rental for the first 5 years at such Incubation Centres. 4) Also good to see promotion of the GITP-proposed “IT Anywhere” concept with incentives around stamp duty, local employee salaries, electricity and internet but a wholesome incentive coverage as available to the notified area companies would have been impactful. Nevertheless, the proposed incentives should encourage state-wide dispersed creation of employment without excessive congestion in the notified areas and cities through local start-ups. A lot more could have been done here as was proposed by GITP for aggressive economic upliftment of our Goan villages but probably that needs to wait till the next policy revision. 5) Extension of policy incentives to the already existing units is well deserved and was one of GITP’s major callouts. 6) Chief Minister heading the Empowered Committee comprising the governmental movers and shakers should help ensure quick decisions and results in next few months. However greater representation from among industry luminaries on this Committee would have helped Goa make up for the lost 2 decades and aspire to be a major Innovation Hub of India in the next 5-10 years. *COULD-HAVE-BEEN-BETTER THINGS ABOUT THIS POLICY:* 1) These 2 sections of the Policy document are disappointing: a) Strategies: shallow and mostly unchanged from the draft version. b) Plan of Action: seen in the earlier draft IT Policy document but missing in final version. Here the government could have articulated its high-level specifics and commitments on how it intends to achieve its policy vision and objectives with a wholesome approach on various aspects relevant to its long term success viz. a think-tank platform for an enabler network and regular IT Policy enhancements; education system revamp for industry-specific skills development; workforce mobilization; efficient infrastructure; ease of doing business; environmental sustainability etc. This would have relayed concrete confidence to the target investor audience. GITP had made many related recommendations and is disappointed to see the lack of substance in these sections. Hopefully these can be addressed in the actual presentations and subsequent policy revisions. 2) The overall simplification of doing IT/ITES/ESDM business in Goa and time-bound discharge of the promised incentives as a result of this policy remains unclear. GITP hopes the required measures would be expeditiously defined and implemented online for efficiency and transparency by the government. 3) Incentives for Patent Filing have been totally missed out despite GITP recommendation. It would have encouraged IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) awareness and generation from Goa which would have been a matter of great pride for our state especially given India’s poor track record compared to other countries. 4) LAND RELATED INCENTIVES section has missed linking land allotment to employment generation criteria which can result in land hoarding with no gain towards the vision of this policy. 5) LAND USE EXEMPTIONS could have allowed a higher FAR than the currently provisioned 2.0 given Goa’s land resource constraints. GITP had proposed 2.5 versus the draft policy’s 1.5. 6) Even though the policy refers to Goa’s “world-class fibre optics broadband network infrastructure” its actual effectiveness remains questionable as GITP has witnessed first-hand through its Project GEIT in 3 Goan villages. This needs to be addressed on a war footing by the government. Besides the overall private sector provided broadband connectivity remains patchy throughout Goa despite our high tele-density. Would have helped to incentivise this in the policy to encourage private sector’s contribution on this essential infrastructure element. 7) Given the current perception disadvantage afflicting Goa regarding IT/ITES industry it would have helped if representation at reputed exhibitions by Goan IT companies was incentivized as was recommended by GITP. 8) No incentives nor expression of intent to facilitate/encourage the return of experienced professionals of Goan origin back to Goa. This is a disappointment given the 10,000+ such Goans working in the Indian and global IT/ITES/ESDM industry who can give a tremendous boost to the nascent Goan IT industry with their national and international experience. 9) Given its rich bio-diversity Goa is ideally suited for Green and Sustainability centric campus setups like research centres, corporate training centres etc. GITP had recommended incentivizing this but is missing in the policy. 10) Successive Goa governments have had many failures and scams regarding IT projects executed by incompetent and fraudulent external vendors while the 200+ Tech startups in Goa are serving clients across the globe. Yet, and despite GITP’s detailed recommendations, there is no IT policy encouragement/consideration for Goan IT startups for Goa government’s IT projects which is disappointing. 11) Clarity on Non-compliance Safeguards is missing which might lead to misuse of this policy especially given the prized Goan land in the current times. 12) Incentives seen in draft version but missing in final policy are: a) REIMBURSEMENT ON SKILL GAP TRAININGS: missing despite a claimed Strategy in the final policy being, “Create industry-ready skilled & technical manpower.” b) EARLY BIRD SPECIALS FOR FIRST THREE IT/ITES/ESDM UNITS: with the employment-linked incentives proposed by GITP this could have been used to quickly attract early investors into Goa given the policy’s objective of generating 15,000 IT/ITES/ESDM and related jobs in Goa (though sans a time-frame commitment which is disappointing). c) PERFORMANCE AND OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION AWARD: with the employment-linked incentives proposed by GITP this could have been effectively used towards the government’s employment generation target. d) INCENTIVES ON CASE TO CASE BASIS: this could have been used to encourage large-scale employment generation towards the government’s targets. In conclusion, though this policy lacks the audacity and depth that it deserved given Goa’s decades-late start in the IT/ITES/ESDM space and Goa’s inherent potential to be the Innovation Capital of India, GITP believes it is better to have a simple, practical start and improvise along the way. GITP hopes the missed opportunities highlighted above and those that will surface along the way hereon will be considered by the authorities to truly make IT/ITES/ESDM the economic game changer for the state of Goa. GITP, besides other like-minded bodies, continues to proactively support the government machinery in pursuing IT/ITES/ESDM investment opportunities and related matters aligned to its objective of enabling Goans to prosper in Goa. GITP looks forward with great expectations and wishes the Goa government the very best in effective implementation of this IT Policy. Regards, Goa IT Professionals www.goaitpro.org On Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 5:41 PM, Goa IT Professionals <goa...@gmail.com> wrote: > Dear Press and Media community (160+ recipients in Bcc): > > GITP wishes you and your loved ones a great New Year 2016 ahead! > > We are grateful to your support to us throughout 2015 as a result of which > a number of significant IT-related achievements came about, and we look > forward to your continued collaboration in 2016 to achieve even greater > things to enable Goans to prosper in Goa through IT and related industries. > > The recently released Goa IT Policy 2015 and the variety of incentives > offered therein by the Govt. of Goa is a significant milestone towards > promoting IT industry in the state. Even though a lot more was expected > from this long-overdue IT Policy, GITP believes it is a respectable > start which can be refined and revised further based on industry feedback > and evolving scenarios. The new policy should now enable the Govt > officials, who till recently were expressing inability to pursue industry > due to the missing IT Policy, to proactively approach the industry and > invite them to invest in Goa. *We insist that the Goa Govt participates > in every major investment summit/event that promotes business in India, > starting with the "Make In India" week happening next month. As a > responsible group GITP continues to extend its active collaboration to the > Goa Govt in such promotions besides on a number of other fronts to ensure > that this IT Policy does not remain just on paper but is used to produce > real, time-bound results.* > > GITP welcomes the emphasis given by the Govt in the new IT Policy to job > creation for locals in Goa. We also appreciate the clause that offers > incentives to IT units that already exist as well as set up anywhere within > the state and not necessarily in certain notified areas. This should > prevent congestion that has been observed in other cities. The true success > of this policy depends on its effective implementation by the Goa Govt. in > collaboration with all relevant stakeholders. Given the existing archaic > governmental processes and red-tapism which have been suffocating IT > Startups in Goa so far, it is crucial that the processes required to > dispense the newly promised financial incentives are streamlined and > preferably made available online, and should not cause additional > administrative overheads to companies. > > The IT industry should realize that among others the biggest incentive to > setup base in Goa is the educated manpower that is generated annually in > the state, coupled with the 10,000+ experienced IT professionals of Goan > origin working in the Indian and global IT and related industries. > Technologically skilled Goans have so far migrated to various parts of the > country and the world excelling in their respective fields. Goans carry a > special bond with their home state which keeps them yearning to live and > work in Goa. The IT industry should look forward to tapping this motivation > and set up their development centers in Goa. > > Regards, > Goa IT Professionals > www.goaitpro.org > -- Regards, Goa IT Professionals www.goaitpro.org
