Goa can attract investment in IT, says HCL founder navhindtimes.in/?p=56785PANAJI: Goa has a great potential of setting up an electronic system design and manufacturing industry, said Ajai Chowdhry one of the founder members of HCL and former chairman of HCL Infosystems. The 2011 Padma Bhushan awardee who is widely recognised for his contribution to the IT industry said that with its fantastic location the state can definitely attract both Indian and global investment. Although Goa has good connectivity it lacks a global supply chain and should improve its port infrastructure. To augment its natural advantage, feeder lines must be started from Goa to Mumbai and an electronics cluster created near the Mopa airport, which is yet to come up, so as to bring it close to customers. An expert in everything related to IT, Chowdhry suggested that a reference be made to a report recently published by the Department of Electronics which identified top 20 electronic products by revenue and top four electronic components. The Goa government, he said, could identify Indian and global companies that are leaders in those areas and create marketing campaign to attract them to invest in the state. Samsung from Korea pointed out Chowdhry invested in India despite no real incentives being offered to them because they wanted to be close to their customers. Recommending the setting up of an incubation centre in Goa for design of ‘cableless semiconductors’ which were the most sought after the world over, he also suggested that government appoint an international consultant to attract investment in Goa. Chowdhry was the key note speaker at the GCCI’s 106th annual function held last week. A prominent personality in industry he said that Goa was special to him and in a year he spent almost three months here. A lot of decision makers also look at the lifestyle of a place when deciding to set up a business and Goa’s wonderful lifestyle is by itself is a good incentive to set up base, added Chowdury. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was the chief guest on the occasion and the Industries Minister Mahadev Naik the guest of honour. The welcome address was by Narayan Bandekar, GCCI, president. The Chief Minister said that there has to be a balance between the development and environment and that both the industry as well as the environmentalists had to understand each other. He said that India has many philosophers but rationality and executable directions are what we lack. Activists demand stoppage of coal mining, sand mining, iron-ore mining and Goa especially is told to preserve its inter-generational equity. He stipulated that if such restrictions are imposed on industrial activity then it stands to reason that consumption should also be restricted. The CM said that he was in complete agreement with the keynote speaker that manufacturing was the key to growth. The industries minister speaking on the occasion said that Goa needs education and not just investment and the education policy be revised so that children could be provided with technical education. He suggested that the readymade garment industry should be encouraged in Goa, which he felt had a good scope to provide jobs to the rural women. The function had mementoes presented by Bandekar, Manoj Caculo, vice president, and Pratima Dhond, secretary respectively. Sandip Bhandare, introduced the keynote speaker and Ralph de Souza proposed the vote of thanks. The event was compered by R S Kamat, director general, GCCI.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Jul 2014 19:48:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015