PANAJI: Having failed to capitalise on the benefits that the information technology sector offered, the government decided to catch up with the lost time and framed the IT policy of the state way back in 2005 but has not been able to frame schemes to provide assistance promised in the policy to the companies that came to the state following the announcement of sops for them.

The result has been that no companies have come and those that came have failed to get any benefit of the announced doles in absence of the schemes to translate the policy into action. Some of the companies are ruing their decision to have come to the state, saying that the government has taken them for a grand ride, even as they demanded that officials should try to help the IT industry at least now.
Having realised that the companies were facing trouble in getting the benefit, the IT department has off late begun the process of streamlining the functioning and taken various measures to address the issues raised by the IT industry in the state.
The IT director, Mr Pravin Chandekar said the schemes have been formulated and sent to the government for approval, which was expected in near future. He admitted that the quantum of incentives to be given to companies has also not been defined as yet but said that this too would be done soon. He went on to add that the policy was being modified to address the issues of the industry.
Mr Sandip Nadkarni of EmiTech told The Navhind Times that the process of registration, the first requirement for setting up the IT companies in Goa, was very cumbersome and that it took more than a year to register the previous company he was working for. Normally registration should not take more than a month, he added.
Secondly, he said, the authorities have not yet fixed the quantum of incentive to be given to the companies that employ Goans and as such no company has been able to claim any benefit and the officials were mum on the issue. He also said the forms for availing benefits promised by the government were also not available, even on the website of the government and the IT department.
He also said that promises made in the IT policy, particularly related to giving early connection of utilities – like power and water connections – have not percolated to the departments, whose officials often deny having received any such instruction from the government to give faster connections to IT units. He also said that IT companies were being treated like other industries in the state and that their officials fail to get any help.
Mr Nadkarni further said the call centres in the state get international lease line circuit via Mumbai, where the nearest international gateway was available, as the state does not have the facility and the companies have to bear additional cost running into several lakhs of rupees that add up to the overhead costs for them.
Mr Nitin Kunkolienkar, the former president of Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry and closely related with the IT industry, also said that IT units have not been getting any of the promised incentives and failure of the government not to honour its promises would only be counter-productive to the state.
He also said that it would be in the interest of the state to immediately give the promised benefits to the IT companies as this could work as a catalyst to attract other units and help generate employment in the state, especially for the IT graduates. He also said that if the government starts implementing the policy now job opportunities could start growing over the next two years.