the goan I network
PANAJI
The Goa government on Sunday launched the Information Technology policy of the State which heavily links its incentives to beneficiary companies and individuals employing Goan graduates and youth who earn skills in the field.
The policy was launched by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and Union Minister of Electronics, IT and Law and Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Revenue and IT Minister, Rohan Khaunte, IT Secretary, Ameya Abhyankar and several other dignitaries during the two-day ‘IT Day’ celebrations at the Inox courtyard in Panaji.
Terming the policy “extra-ordinary and well thought out” Prasad pledged the Centre’s backing to ensure Goa becomes a good centre in IT.
Prasad also announced the commissioning of the incubation centre of the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) at the Udyog Bhavan in Panaji, which will have 48 plug-and-play systems.
He egged on the State Government to also come out with an Electronics Policy to promote the electronics cluster in Tuem.
“Please come out with your (electronics) policy. As Goa has exotic locations and soft power, it can become a good centre for electronics manufacturing as well. I am going to help you in that initiative,” Prasad said.
Prasad impressed upon Khaunte the importance of ‘digital skilling’ saying it is going to be the future. He lamented thah Goa does not have a National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) centre but declared it will have one if the State provides the space.
“If you can provide built-up space, NIELIT centre will start here within a month,” Prasad said.
Parrikar, in his brief speech said Goa has an IT base with 270 entrepreneurs employing 3,000 IT professionals in the State.
“In IIT where I did my metallurgy, 29 graduates passed out as material science engineer in 1978. Only 4 of them remained in metallurgy, one went into politics and the rest 24 are all in the IT sector. You can understand the magic of IT sector and also that of good engineering,” Parrikar said.
Khaunte listed the incentives promised in the policy which include land and built-up area rebates, lease rentals subsidy, capital investment subsidy, power subsidy, internet subsidy and salary subsidy.
He said the IT Park at Chimbel which was only a ‘headline’ till date will soon have a start-up village and an IT village for industries which would set-up shop here.
The IT Policy lays overarching emphasis on jobs for Goans with benefits made a function of the number of Goan origin or Goan graduates taken on the roster by the beneficiary IT company.
For example, the policy says that an IT company will get 50% subsidy under any head if it employs 30% or lesser Goan origin / Goan graduates on its payroll. For 30% to 60% employment of Goans, the subsidy will climb to 75 per-cent and even to 100 per-cent if more than 60% are employed.
The state government is offering a one-time rebate at the rate of Rs 40,000 per male employee (Rs 50,000 per female employee) for the purchase of land for creating IT office space. For the purchase of built up office space of an IT company, it is giving a one-time rebate of up to 20% of the cost of the space.
Another salient feature of the policy is a 50% re-imbursement of their spend on office rent for all new and existing IT companies. This benefit increases to 60% in case 30% or more employees are women.
Subject to a maximum of Rs 5 lakhs per year, the policy also promises reimbursement of 20% of their power bills and 25% of their internet bills with a maximum limit of Rs 5 lakhs per year.
The policy has a module to encourage the Goan Diaspora to start business in Goa with 100% reimbursement of the lease rental for the first six months of operation. Also a reimbursement of Rs 35 per square foot or 80% of total lease rentals, whichever is lower, is pledged for the first two years.
To be eligible, the company must be registered in Goa, its CEO/head or majority stakeholder(s) should be from Goan Diaspora and it should hire minimum 15 employees, 60% of which should be of Goan origin.
