PANAJI
As the State is striving to bounce back and revive its economy, it is the IT industry that quickly adopted and adapted to the ‘work from home’ alternative and delivered in the past 18 months.
Out of approximately 250 IT companies in Goa, most continued working and supporting the economy in these hard times. However, demands for uninterrupted power supply, internet connectivity, easy mobile range and accessibility in remote areas, are picking up.
“The government is very supportive and has given us a ear so far, but it is crucial that we do follow up on a regular basis so that the ease of working is assured,” says Mangirish Salelkar, founder president, Goa Technology Association (GTA) that would be making a representation to the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to discuss the issues faced by the IT industry in Goa.
The GTA founder president who is CEO and co-founder of Umang Software, will be moderating ‘direct dialogue’, an exclusive interview session with the Chief Minister on July 10 on ‘Vision for IT industry in Goa’.
“IT is doing very well compared to other businesses in Goa. We are surviving somehow, but it’s not a cakewalk. The IT policy is ready but not implemented in its entirety. We have been waiting for five years, since 2017,” he said.
Sharing some of the challenges, Sujeet Shetty, director, Team Inertia Technologies, says, “We were forced to work from home during the lockdown and while it offered some solace, we also faced extreme challenges in carrying out our jobs from home. Goa does not have a stable power supply, especially in remote areas and there’s also poor range as far as mobile data activity is concerned. This hampers our work. We have to improve the net connectivity across Goa.”
“We need proper push from the government so that even if the pandemic situation continues, we can work from home with ease,” states Shetty.
The IT industry faces short supply of trained, experienced people, locally, who can work from home in Goan software companies. “Finding right people is a challenge, not only in Goa, but across the country,” agrees Bhavit Naik, CEO, Teknorix Systems. Running his software company for eight years, Naik points out that engineering colleges in Goa churn out IT graduates regularly, however the campus placements snatch these young engineers to big brands like Infosys and Microsoft, who do not mind hiring new, inexperienced youth.
The Chief Minister has appreciated our work, says GTA President Salelkar, reminding that the CM had pointed out that GTA is Goa’s only premium trade body of ITeS companies, and has support of over 200 plus members from the ecosystem. “With four years of inception, GTA has done an excellent job in supporting IT, ITeS companies and startups,” said CM.
Looking at the promises that were made recently by the Sawant government of supporting in all ways to uplift the IT industry, the stakeholders are hopeful of a positive interaction that results in resolving the prominent issues.
