Struggling Goa positive on getting industrial investments flowing in
Back in the 1960s and 1970s in the early years post Goa's liberation, the then Chief Minister Dayanand Bandodkar pursued an industrial policy centred around big industries taking root here and fuelling business activity with ancillaries setting up shop around them.
Some examples where Bandodkar achieved success in his pursuit of this single point industrial policy are: Zuari Industries at Sancoale-Zuarinagar, the then Ciba-Geigy's pharma plant at Corlim and Madras Rubber Factory's (MRF) fairly large facility in Ponda.
These three big industrial units were the source of significant employment for local educated youth in those decades and for many years later and in a way were the crux of Goa's industrial and economic progress, outside of the mining sector..
Then came the State's thrust in the medium and small scale sector with the setting up of the industrial estates across Goa. However, over the last couple of decades, industrial investments haven't been at the expected level owing to multiple reasons and concerted efforts are being made to attract investors.
One such effort was the recent 'Invest Goa' event promoted by the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) where Goa's own Shrinivas Dempo announced plans of his Dempo group to venture into Hospitality with a 200-room, five-star hotel and also to get into power co-generation.
Another company, Rasna International, revealed plans to set up a cashew based food processing facility and yet another proposes to invest big (nearly Rs 125 crore) in logistics to set up the TVS Industrial and Logistics Park.
Thrust on green
industries
Given Goa's tourism brand, industrial investments in manufacturing have in a way faced roadblocks with frequent environment-related agitations by sections of the State's populace busting several projects -- Thappar Dupont's Nylon 6,6 project in Keri and the Jindal Group's Meta Strips at Sancoale -- being prime examples.
Learning from these episodes, the thrust of the government now is on inviting investment in “green industries,” such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals which is already a thriving sector in the State, food processing, IT/ITeS, electronics manufacturing with the facility at Tuem set to take off besides logistics and warehousing.
Apart from the few that were made public at the event earlier this week, the industries department is hoping more Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) will be signed in the near future.
Flicker of hope
on the ground
That Goa's climate for industrial investments is showing some improvement is visible on the ground where 'proposed' investments are taking shape physically.
At Verna, by far the most buzzing of Goa's many industrial estates, there has been over the last few weeks actual action to set up manufacturing facilities.
One such development is the Italian company Eurostampa holding the inaugural ceremony of its first facility in Asia at the Verna industrial estate last week. The company has already picked up a few graduates from the Don Bosco Engineering College at Fatorda and is set to dispatch them to their facility at Cincinnati, USA for a year-long stint for training.
Another such positive development for Goa's investment climate, again at the Verna industrial estate, Perlon-Goa promoted by a German company, inaugurated their facility after taking over Shaun Filaments which was already operating there.
"The German company has promised to bring down its top management to explore bigger investments here in Goa," a source at the Verna industrial estate said.
A top Goan industrialist told The Goan that despite several infrastructural constraints at Verna, there is a perceptible change for the better in the attitude of the officials at the GIDC, which manages the estates, after the current managing director, Polumatla P Abhishek, IAS, took over.
"He has been visiting estates along with the top honchos of all the other related departments to try and sort out the problems which is refreshing," said the industrialist who did not want to be identified.
"Problem is how long will this bureaucrat be permitted to function independently by the political class is the million dollar question. Nonetheless there is a perceptible change already and it has created some sort of interest among the companies, some of who are making plans for bigger investments here in Goa," he said.
Some of the infrastructural bottlenecks faced by the industrial sector perennially here in Goa is the shortfall of power, water and land resources.
Labour-intensive investments
a challenge?
Barring pharma units, most other industrial investments in Goa have been factories and units which are not labour-intensive and generating jobs with the investments to absorb Goa's large army of unemployed youth is a challenge.
However, the State Government has claimed success in its industrial policy attributing it to its concerted efforts to cut red tape through the Goa Startup Policy, Agri Export Policy, Information Technology Investment Policy and the single-window clearance for land allotment and construction of industries through the Investment Promotion Board (IPB).
The government has claimed that during the last financial year, 10,857 Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) filed online Udyam Registration and these have an employment potential of 43,009 persons.
The Goa IPB, meanwhile, has claimed it has granted approval to 12 new industrial units and nine proposals for expansion of existing manufacturing units in 2023-24. The aggregate investment of these IPB approved proposals has been pegged at Rs. 698.53 crore and the claim is that they will collectively produce 5,568 jobs.
