Launched recently in April 2017, the Goa Technology Association (GTA) is the first representative body of the local IT industry. Here Mangirish Salelkar, president, GTA, talks of the association objectives of fast tracking growth of local companies. He says to Team B&C that, plans are afoot to collaborate with the department of technical education (DTE) to upgrade the syllabus of engineering colleges.

Q: How does the GTA plan to put forward the cause of IT units in the state?

The primary goal of this association is to uplift the industry which has been ignored and taken for granted all this while. GTA now has membership of 70 plus tech companies based in Goa. Our aim is to work along with the government and educate them about the current IT ecosystem and bring forward the world class services and products developed by these companies. We are closely working along with NASSCOM for building a healthy and productive ecosystem where every individual can grow. Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) has extended full support to GTA for conducting seminars and giving access to national and international trade fairs. We also aim to very soon work with the department of technical education (DTE) for upgrading their syllabus and helping the graduates to be industry ready.

Q: What is GTAs opinion on the initiatives taken by the government in attracting IT investors to the state?

GTAs initiative along with a strong IT policy coming from the government side will definitely boost this industry. It will definitely attract mid- sized companies and tech Entrepreneurs to choose Goa as their startup base. We are also working along with the government to draft a very simple yet industry friendly IT policy which will definitely help the existing IT companies who have sustained business in Goa inspite of all odds and also attract new tech players. This will in turn lead to a lot of job creation and also bring back lot of Goan IT talent who want to be back home.

Q: What do you think of the ecology for IT start-ups in the state?

GTA has recently done a survey to help the government know the strength of this IT ecosystem. The summarized data will be released shortly. However we realized that startups makes almost 70 per cent of this ecosystem. We need to understand that they are the future and they need to be mentored and incubated well for benefit of this state. Proper incubation facilities with plug and play model should be made easily available.

Q: Is Goa missing the IT bus?

Bangalore and Pune are in an overloaded bus, Those IT hubs are getting saturated. We need to think positive that our bus has just started with GTA as the driver. We will get the right resources onboard to fast track what we have missed. We seriously aim to take Goan IT industry to the next level and we will achieve it.

Q: What does GTA think of the Cyberage Scheme?

Sorry, we are aware of it. However we are not the right team to handle the situation or intervene. It is all to do with hardware vendors.

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Startups make almost 70 per cent of the IT eco system in Goa - The Navhind Times