Glenmark’s factory in Colvale doesn’t have a power connection from the electricity department even after three years. They use their own generators for the same
Suresh Kamath,
GPMA, President
World Bank’s study
Slow approvals pushes Goa to
19th place on business index
Byline: Karan Sehgal
PANAJI
Despite the efforts taken by the current BJP government in Goa to improve the business conditions, Goa had to console itself with a low rank of 19th across 29 states of India in terms of ease of doing business as per the World Bank.
Last year, the state government unveiled investment policy and created investment promotion board (IPB) to speed up the long approval process required to set up industries. Ironically, slow approvals has emerged as the main reason why Goa fared poorly in the World Bank’s study.
Chairman, CII Goa Sate Council, Parag Joshi, said, “Land related approvals end up taking months at Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC). Suppose I have two companies with one plot allotted to each. One company requires more space. The law allows me to go for sub-leasing where the plot of the other company will be leased to the company, which needs land. It ends up taking months to get approvals from GIDC even for sub-leasing, while it should be taking only a few weeks”
Goa being a small state is definitely better than other parts of India, on an overall basis. But, other states have special economic zones (SEZ), wherein the quality of infrastructure is really good and the getting approvals is also a lot easier than in Goa.
“Cipla and Glenmark both have their facilities in an SEZ in Pithampur in Madhya-Pradesh wherein there is a tax holiday. They have adequate infrastructure like effluent treatment plant, good water and power availability there. But, Goa is still grappling with these issues. Glenmark’s factory in Colvale doesn’t have a power connection from the electricity department even after three years. They use their own generators for the same”, said Suresh Kamath, president, Goa Pharmaceuticals Manufacturers’ Association.
The industry seemed pleased with certain departments of the state government as Joshi said, “Departments like Coastal Regulation Zone and Pollution Control Board are a lot well equipped today and their performance is satisfactory." This, notwithstanding, the approval process ends up taking too much time because a lot of departments are slow.
Aakash Khaunte, director, Alcon Enterprises, said, “We live in a digital world today. Everything should be online but that’s not the case with government departments in Goa. This has made the whole approval process very slow. The issue is even after an industry gets IPB’s nod, the follow-up process from other departments is not fast." Alcon Enterprises has business interests in construction, real estate, manufacturing, automobiles and hospitality sectors.
Goa is still suffering from a piecemeal approach as even when departments reform themselves, they don’t realise how well they co-ordinate with each other. Joshi continued, “To sort out this problem, co-ordination is required across all government departments”
