Quality of life, digital push driving Goa startup boom, says Khaunte

NT Reporter

Panaji

Information Technology (IT) Minister Rohan Khaunte on Monday said that Goa is positioning itself as a startup destination by leveraging its quality of life and digital infrastructure to attract entrepreneurs from across the country even as he called for better coordination between ministers and bureaucrats to address delays encountered by entrepreneurs.

Khaunte said that
33% of start-ups in the state are women-led ventures and that efforts would be made to further raise these
numbers.

“Goa has been recognised as the best performer among Indian states in the startup ecosystem and currently has 734 registered startups of which 33 per cent are women-led ventures, operating across sectors such as MedTech, FinTech and tourism,” said Khaunte, speaking at the National Startup Day celebrations organised by the Department of IT and the State Startup Promotion Council.

Khaunte said Goa’s startup growth was the result of coordination between academia, industry and government since the startup and IT policy was introduced in 2017.

He asked Goa Electronics Ltd, a government subsidiary, to mentor startups delivering services to the government and added that more than 100 government services are currently being provided through startups.

“Student project funding has been enhanced under the amended startup policy,” said Khaunte, adding that around 10 projects from five engineering colleges received financial support in the past month to help students convert academic projects into career opportunities.

Referring to the upcoming electronic manufacturing cluster at Tuem Industrial Estate, he said it would define a new thought of skill sets. He cited the drone sector as an example and said emerging industries create employment opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds while leveraging technology for skill development.

On artificial intelligence, Khaunte spoke about the Goa AI Mission 2027, which focuses on infrastructure and human capability building. He said AI chatbots have been introduced for governance-related functions and that these initiatives will be expanded.