Aims for Global Capability Centre in Goa
Panaji : Goa’s startup sector is set for some livening up with the government planning to amend the state startup policy 2021 so as to include projects by college students.
“The amendment will give the benefits of government funding to projects undertaken by college students,” IT Minister Rohan Khaunte said on Tuesday.
He added that the projects will be selected based on recommendation by colleges. The policy presently recognises startups as entities which are less than 10 years old, have an annual turnover of not more than Rs 100 crore and are incorporated as a private limited company, a registered partnership firm or a limited liability partnership (LLP).
The government’s move to revise the startup policy comes at a time when the creation of new startups is slowing down. In the last two years, the number of startups registered has remained stagnant at 52 units.
There are a total of 212 registered startups currently of which, majority (57 per cent) are in the IT sector.
Khaunte disclosed moves to amend the policy at an AI conference organised by Google in New Delhi. He said that, as per analysis, nearly 72 per cent of the IT & ITES students passing out from the five engineering colleges are employed.
Speaking at the Google for Developers (GDG)’s Build with AI conference, he said the Goa government is trying for one of the two Global Capability Centres (GCCs) announced by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal.
“We are ambitiously working towards having one of the centres established in Goa, creating an ecosystem that will attract major companies and foster the overall IT sector,” he said.
In the Union budget 2025-26, the Centre also announced the formulation of a national framework to guide states in promoting GCCs in emerging tier II cities.
GCCs are offshore units set up by multinational companies to handle operations such as IT, finance, analytics, and R&D.
Later in the day, Khaunte was the chief guest at a Build with AI – with Google Developers event held at a city hotel.
The IT Minister said that AI will not take away jobs and skill development is important to counter job displacement.
Khaunte said the government is committed to skilling and re-skilling.
The function was attended by Siddharth Prakash, head of product strategy for emerging markets at Google Cloud, and Prajyot Mainkar, founder of Sofueled.
Over 400 students, researchers, and developers were part of the event.
