Staff Reporter
Panaji
The government is revamping the Goa State Incentives to Encourage Investments Scheme 2017 to improve the usefulness of the initiative to local industrial units.
The umbrella scheme to incentivise industry is being revised under the Raising and Accelerating MSMIE Performance (RAMP) project, for which Goa has been sanctioned Rs 61.6 crore by the Union ministry.
“The revision is part of the central Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) project which is under implementation in the state. The RAMP project also includes a survey of local MSME units,” disclosed industry secretary Suneel Anchipaka on Tuesday.
He said the pilot survey is being conducted in industrial estates. “Once complete, it will reveal the type of MSMEs in operation, their requirements and linkages with the market. The survey timeline is of two-three months,” Anchipaka said.
The industry secretary pointed out that Goa has over 60,000 MSMEs. However, information is lacking on their category, ownership, products and what is the market that the units are looking for. Officials in the directorate of industries, trade and commerce, revealed that the process of consultation with industry stakeholders for overhauling the state incentive scheme has been underway.
“The flagship scheme is being revised to meet the needs of industry. With an improvement in the formalisation of MSMEs reflected in an increase in the number of registered units the response for the scheme is sure to improve in future,” they said.
The economic survey 2024-25 has revealed poor response to the state incentives scheme, which comprises seven sub-schemes. Only 38 Goan MSMEs availed the schemes in the last five years, from 2019-20 to 2024-25 (up to December 2024), claiming a total subsidy amount of Rs 310 lakh,
Of the seven schemes, the response was for the capital subsidy scheme, the interest subsidy scheme and the employment subsidy scheme.
On the other hand, only one unit availed the financial incentives for certification and IPR reimbursement scheme. There were no takers for the incentives to the training prospective employees scheme, the incentive to encourage purchases from local suppliers scheme, and the incentives to green investments scheme.
