Goa Government Looks To Approve Startup Incentives On Jan 17

In its endeavour to boost the startup ecosystem of the state, the Goa government is reportedly planning to approve a few more startup incentives. The high powered Startup Promotion Committee which includes Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and the minister of Information and Technology is expected to schedule a meeting on January 17 to discuss these initiatives.

The committee also includes the IT secretary, chief secretary, Industries secretary and four nominated experts from the industry. Key points of discussion during the meeting are speculated to be:

• Answering questions regarding startup certification
• Looking to offer 25% of the staff salary if 60% of the startup’s workforce is Goan
• Ink agreements with Indian blockchain conglomerate Eleven01 and with US-based software company Intuit
• Approve seed capital funding for three startups

Goa Startup Policy was officially launched by Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, in April 2018. The state’s startup policy aims to make Goa an aspirational geographical and human resource base for startups.

The policy’s endeavour is to create at least 100 successful startups in Goa in the next five years, targeting generations of employment for at least 5,000 Goans. It also aims to develop a minimum 2,00,000 Lakh sq ft area for technology innovation and incubation centres in the next five years.

The startup incentives offered currently under the policy are:

• A one-time grant of INR 10 Lakh ($15,373) with a promise of the minimum viable product
• Reimbursement of up to 50% of the salary for any startup where local youth are hired, subject to a cap of INR 10K ($150.16) per recruit
• Reimbursement of 50% of R&D expenses, including salaries of PhD holders employed by startups for a period of two years, subject to a cap of INR 5 Lakh ($7,507.98) per annum.

In July 2018, chief minister Manohar Parrikar along with Union minister for electronics and IT and law and justice Ravi Shankar Prasad also launched Goa IT Policy 2018 with the aim of creating 10K jobs.

With the expected disbursal of incentives, the IT department expects that more startups will come forward. “Once the startup certifications are approved, it will take the total number of certified startups in the state to 55. Also, once the seed funds are disbursed, this will be the first time that Goa’s startups get incentives under any IT policy,” the report added.

So far 21 states have launched their startup policies including Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and more. While Gujarat gains the top spot in DIPP’s state startup ranking, on basis of its startup policy framework, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Odisha and Kerala came in a notch below as ‘top-performing states’.

[The development was reported by ET.]