At a recent industry event, a top consultant remarked that this year, Goa’s compliance with the reforms spelt out by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the central government will jump three-fold.
This sounds like music to the ears because improvement in compliance means that it will become easier to do business in the state. This is where the problem is. Despite a number of policy announcements by the current state government, businessmen still complain that it is not easy to do business in Goa.
It’s also no secret that Goa’s rank was 21 across all the states and union-territories of India on the ease of doing business parameter in the rankings conducted by DIPP in 2016. What led to the poor performance was Goa’s below average record on many parameters including single window system and availability of land.
Bear in mind, it is close to four years that the investment promotion board (IPB) was formed to make it easier for businesses to get all the approvals from the government departments. By now, it is clear that IPB is not a single-window to get all the clearances, which has really frustrated the business community.
Interestingly enough, BJP MLA from Curchorem, Nilesh Cabral, at the same event said that IPB has gone haywire. A noted industrialist a few days back also said something similar about IPB. Somehow, the state government will have to get its act together as far as IPB is concerned in order to make at least starting a business easier in Goa.
On land, the state government has made some improvements. For example, GIDC has reduced open space in industrial estates to release more land to the industries. Having said that, a number of industrial estates have sick units, which have occupied industrial plots without making productive use of the land.
The state government will have to devise a sound mechanism to take the plots back from such sick units. Moreover, the procedure for plot allotment to industries has to be automated by having a website. Once and for all, the government has to make land allotment to industries easy.
It’s a fact that Goa is a small state with little land bank. However, a more pertinent fact is that GIDC has so far not utilised whatever industrial land it has efficiently. This issue must be sorted out as soon as possible if Goa wants to do well on ease of doing business rankings next time.
It’s true that acquiring land in Goa is indeed very difficult. Precisely due to this, it is high time that state government
uses land in already existing industrial estates in a judicious manner.
