Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: Goa has been placed 16th overall and has been categorized as an “Aspirer” State with a feedback score in the range of 50-80% in the recently released assessment result at the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) ranking of 2020.
It may be noted that in the previous evaluation, the State had scored 3.33% and was ranked 24th in the country.
The results were released recently at an event organized by the Department for Promotion for Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), where Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Government of India, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, in the presence of Minister for Commerce and Industry, Government of India, Shri Piyush Goyal released the assessment result for the EoDB exercise of 2020.
While the detailed result is yet to be shared by DPIIT, it is noteworthy that the State has jumped from 3.33% to 71% in feedback score and has made an improvement of 8 positions and moved ahead of States such as Jharkhand, Kerala, Rajasthan and West Bengal within the same category.
Goa Investment Promotion and Facilitation Board (Goa-IPB) is the nodal agency for the implementation of EoDB in the State, and the results of this evaluation are a clear indicator of the ground-level impact of the reforms that are being undertaken. The evaluation methodology of DPIIT relies solely on the feedback provided by business users for the services that are implemented in the State.
The State receives a point when 70% or more users give positive feedback. IPB has taken several initiatives to connect with the users, understand the pain areas, and work with all stakeholders to simplify the processes and procedures. The improvement in State’s score suggests that people have felt the change and approve of the Government’s efforts in this regard.
IPB has been working on a “Beyond BRAP” agenda through the Reducing Compliance Burden (RCB) exercise, which looks beyond the scope of the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) of DPIIT and has made EoDB a year-round exercise. Features like introducing auto-renewals in-licenses, the release of draft industrial policy 2022, simplifying government procedures, reducing document requirements for availing services, increasing periodicity of licenses, reducing timeline and enabling faster clearances, decriminalization of minor offences etc. are some of the broad activities undertaken in the ambit of RCB.
On July 4, 2022, in another such event organized by the Department for Promotion for Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), in the presence of the Minister for Commerce and Industry, Government of India, Shri Piyush Goyal, released the assessment result for the State Start-up ranking exercise 2021. States were divided into two categories, i.e., Category A with a population of more than one crore and Category B with a population of less than one crore. The State of Goa overall secured the 5th rank out of 16 states in Category B and was categorized as a “Leader” State in developing a strong start-up ecosystem.
The State of Goa has been evaluated across seven Reform Areas that have significantly contributed to propelling the State’s start-up ecosystem. The State has shown significant improvement through ‘Institutional Support’, ‘Fostering Innovation and Entrepreneurship’ and Capacity Building for Enablers’. The range of impact generated through ‘Access to Market’ and ‘Funding Support’ is also noticeable. Some of the praiseworthy initiatives include: Creating a one-stop portal for start-ups in the State with a dedicated helpline and clear state-level approvals and clearances and conducting knowledge sessions in Higher Educational Institutes to promote entrepreneurial spirit and support student entrepreneurs.