Industrial sector will need a big push in 2018
At a time when the industrial sector was literally battling the impact of demonetisation and Goods-and-Service-Tax (GST), the state government did make a number of attempts in 2017 to make the going easier for the sector.
However, the year ended with a lot to be desired and number of structural reforms still pending. On his part, Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, who is also the Industries Minister, tried to assuage the anxieties of local businessmen by bringing their issues to the notice of GST Council in Delhi. Parrikar even held a town hall meeting on GST with businessmen and tax practitioners. The commercial taxes department too has done a lot to make people aware about the nuts and bolts of GST. Parrikar and Information Technology Minister, Rohan Khaunte, also announced a ‘Start-up
Policy', which is primarily aimed at giving a boost to the budding tech start-ups in the state. But, beyond that, nothing much happened for the benefit of the industrial sector.
More than any policy announcement, Directorate of Industries, Trade and Commerce (DITC) and Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) need a thorough overhaul. DITC and GIDC need to have professionals, who will oversee the industrial sector and will help the state government in formulating right policies.
A number of industrialists have complained that DITC and GIDC take a lot of time for approvals. The entire approval seeking process must be automated at both DITC and GIDC. This will do away with manual intervention and will save industrialists a lot of time.
For this purpose, the state government can take a leaf out of RERA (Real Estate Regulation and Development Act), which has made it mandatory for all the builders to register their projects online. Similar approach can be adopted in the industrial sector as well.
While DITC and GIDC are struggling to adapt to the demands of modern day business world, the Investment Promotion Board (IPB) has fared better. However, even IPB does not have a full-time Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for nearly four months now.
To its credit, IPB managed to get KPMG on board as a satellite consultant, but it took the board a lot longer to get a consultant than it should have. Given all this, it cannot be said that the government machinery has become either more agile or more responsive to the needs of the industrial sector. Certain reforms have happened, but they happened slower than expected.
The industrial sector clearly deserves more attention from the government's side particularly when mining is going through such a slowdown. Moreover, other states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra-Pradesh and Telangana are far more aggressive.
The year 2018 will definitely require the state government to make more concentrated efforts for the betterment of the industrial sector.
