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Invest in Goa- A glimpse of its Investment Policy

The government of Goa has well recognized the need to speed up investment to nurture the state’s economy which has a high potential for growth due to abundance availability of port, rail, road and airport. The state is working towards creating a favourable atmosphere for investors to invest in the state thereby making the state a destination for business. That is why the government brought in its Investment Policy in the year 2014 to make the state a favourable investor friendly business destination.

Objectives:

  • To create jobs for more than 50,000 people in the next five years (the policy tenure)
  • To bring in investment of Rs. 25,000 crore
  • To provide high-quality logistics infrastructure to industries
  • To provide 24*7 high-quality power supply
  • To establish an Investment Promotion Board to bring clarity to responsibilities of Goa IDC, EDC, DITC, GEDC, ITG and GTDC

Main highlights:

  • Establishing an Investment Promotion Board- The Investment Promotion Board will act as a nodal agency for investments in the state. The Board will also be a fully-empowered statutory unit and will be headed by a full-time working CEO and will have 9 members from the industry. The Board will mainly work on reviewing applications for investment proposals, drafting approval process; guidelines and other norms, appointing and managing satellite expert consultant, facilitating approvals for investors to establish their entities in the state and lastly promoting the state as an investment destination nationally and internationally etc.
  • IT enabled application process- The investment application process will be IT enabled and there will be clear mention of how much time will be needed for each task within the process. Also, a clear status update will be provided to the investor on the status of his/her application at each stage.
  • Thrust areas for Greenfield investment- The state has identified certain thrust areas for Greenfield investment such as Knowledge based industry, R&D centers and financial services 2. Pharmaceuticals & bio-technology 3. Integrated educational hubs 4. Tourism 5. Light engineering 6. Aviation, aerospace and defence 7. Information Technology (IT) Hardware and Electronics and lastly, 8. Agro-based and food processing industries.
  • Human Resource- The state has an availability of quality human capital with several institutions offering professional degrees and diplomas. The state has taken a few steps to further strengthen its human capital by setting up an Education Task Force to suggest changes in curriculum of the courses offered, setting up a Counselling Cell to counsel candidates before they enter into professional world. There will also be compulsory internships and industry interactions for all courses for a specific period of time. At the same time, a database of students those have passed out to facilitate employment opportunities.
  • Micro Industrial Zones- The state will be setting up Micro Industrial Zones (MIZs) in each district of the state in a proper manner. In order to encourage local art & crafts, the local units will be given preferences in some MIZs. These MIZs will have readymade facilities which will be available for setting up micro units. Basic infrastructure such as water, electricity and other utilities will be provided within the MIZs.
  • Incentives-
  1. Special Incentive for new investments and expansion of existing units-
Special incentive Upper limit per year
VAT/CST 25% of VAT/CST payable during the year
Employee wages Rs. 25 lakhs per unit per year or 15% of total wages per year, whichever is lower for Goan direct employees with monthly emoluments of a minimum of Rs. 15,000
Stamp duty on land acquisition 50% of stamp duty payable in backward talukas 25% of stamp duty payable in other talukas to be set-off against VAT/CST paid in the first year of operation

(The total Special Incentive will be a maximum 70% for backward talukas and 50% for other talukas but however, a unit has to employ at least 80% Goans in order to be eligible for it.)

  1. Training Linked Incentives- In a bid to encourage private companies to train prospective employees, some of the incentives that have been introduced are- reimbursement of 75% of the training costs for prospective Goan employees amounting to a maximum of Rs. 75,000 for each employee and Rs. 7.5 lakh for one unit per annum. However, the reimbursement will only take place after the prospective Goan employee is employed by the unit.
  2. Water & Energy Audit- Reimbursement of 25% of the cost of water and energy audit by a recognized institution or consultant.
  3. Water & Energy Conservation Equipment- 25% reimbursement of the cost of water and energy conservation equipment will be provided, amounting to a maximum of Rs. 1 lakh per unit.
  4. Renewable energy- Units those willing to install renewable power generation equipment will be provided 100% reduction from electricity duty, provided that the units have to meet a minimum of 25% of its power from renewable energy.
  5. Entry tax- The new units will be exempted from their entry taxes for up to 5 years
  6. Innovation and Productivity Enhancement- 50% reimbursement of the professional fees for registration or fees paid to the registry for registration of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) subject to a maximum of Rs. 5 lakh per unit.
  7. All MSME units will be provided 75% stamp duty rebate
  8. Quality certification charges- The state will offer reimbursement of costs that the units paid to get certificates like Indian Standard Institute, International Standard Organization (ISO) – 9000/9001 (or any higher) certification, SEI-CMM level 3 upwards, e-SCM level 3, Conformity Europeene (CE), CMMI Level 2 upwards or any other national / international certification for quality standards and/or patents right on product and/or processes amounting to a maximum unit of Rs. 2 lakh per unit.

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