Business Goa February 2018

FEBRUARy 2018

VOL 4 ISSUE 2 panaji goa

Postal license no.: G-2/RNP/Monthly/Goa-19/2018-20

RNI No.: goaeng/2015/59955

goa’s only business magazine

industry dossier

budget 2018

trying to find balance the finance

minister’s bid to balance economy and realpolitik

Mining hits roadblock again

The prospects of mining in Goa were put paid to when the Supreme Court ordered its closure from March 15th.

A detailed account of the judgement

Mahalsa Accoustic Industry

Rohan Warty starting young

Digital Goa goan brand

goa biz fest 2018

goa’s biggest jamboree for entrepreneurs

Raya Shankhwalker Interview

CA Satish Dhume professional dossier

Amavi by Sumera Bon appétit

News Views Articles Interviews Profiles Focus Analysis Opinions Events Features

contents Cover Story 16

The prospects of mining in Goa were put to paid when the Supreme Court ordered its closure from March 15th

Focus Goa 22

The Finance Minister has walked the tightrope with a budget that is more prudent than populist

Focus Goa 24

With entrepreneurial activity soaring, there exists huge potential for Goans in the global arena

Starting Young 26

16 22

Rohan Warty learned his trade in Mumbai, but returned to his roots to start Xerviz Wlobal, which caters to ITES needs in Goa

Enterprise 28

KLASSIC can cater to a business or industry of any size by customizing labels and barcode machines

Interview 30

In conversation with architect Raya Shankhwalker, current honorary secretary of Goa Heritage Action Group

30

26

36

64

Industry 32

How Mahalasa Accoustic cinched a contract to provide a US army base with primary power and heating solutions

Goan Brand 34

Digital Goa, a local media company, provides Goans with a daily dose of information through its SMS news service

Professional Dossier 40 40

34

Satish R Dhume is a chartered accountant with a mission to render professional services of the highest standard to clients

Lady Power 42

Vrushali Parsekar strikes a balance between being a successful businesswoman and satisfied homemaker

Bon Appétit 64 42

28

32

COLUMNS

Amavi by Sumera promises gourmet delicacies crafted with the finest ingredients and seasoned with love... and delivers; and Burgers and beer to make a hearty meal out of at Cidade de Goa’s Café Azul

52 People Tree

57 Corporate Citizen

54 Beyond Classroom

58 Good Company

56 HR Mantra

60 Economania

Kishore Shah highlights the importance of social support systems in our daily lives by drawing a parallel to pit crews in F1 races

Pradeep Salgaonkar highlights the modern marketing techniques best suited to the success of your business R N Misra stresses that respondents be given reasonable opportunity to defend themselves in disciplinary inquiries

Daniel Albuquerque emphasizes the importance of Artificial Intelligence, and the need to capitalize on its benefits Swatee Shere Rane takes a look at the major proposals in Budget 2018 Dr. Manoj S Kamat examines the cause and effects of the recently announced data on retail inflation

10 Editorial 12 Corpo Scan 36 Accolades 38 Campus 38 Book Shelf 38 BG Crossword 39 Curtain Raiser 44 Fashion 46 Events 48 Biz Bytes 62 What’s Up Goa 68 Goa Buzz 72 Newsmakers 72 BG Quiz 08 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

editorial Entrepreneurship is work. Lots of it. february 2018 Editor & Publisher

Harshvardhan Bhatkuly Co-Publisher & Group Head

Urvija Bhatkuly

Advisory Board

Datta Damodar Naik Ralph de Sousa Rajiv D’Silva Swapnil Kamat Business Head

Annalise Gouveia Reporters

Anna Fernandes Ramrai Naik Admin & Accounts

Ashok Kolvekar Sandra Dias Art Director

Govit Morajkar Distribution & Logistics

Mayur Santinezkar Pritesh Naik

Contributors in this Issue

Daniel Albuquerque Ibha Gupta Kishore Shah Dr Manoj Kamat Maryanne Lobo D’Mello Dr. Pradeep Salgaonkar R N Misra Rohan Bhandare Swatee Shere Rane Editorial, Advertising & Administrative Office

Business Goa

409, Citicentre, EDC Patto Plaza, Panaji, 403001 Goa India Tel.: 0832-2437822 Email: businessgoa.media@gmail.com Unsolicited material may not be returned. The opinions in columns and other stories expressed in Business Goa Industry Dossier are not necessarily that of the publishers and the Publisher/Editor shall not be held liable for any inaccuracy or otherwise.

While great care is being taken to ensure accuracy of information, the publishers are not responsible for omissions or incorrect information. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the publishers.

The other day I was left stumped when my ten-year-old threw a barrage of questions at me – how does one start a business? How does one acquire a customer? How does one set up an office or factory? Pretty loaded stuff for someone of his age. But then, just like competitive sports, the age of entrepreneurs striking out on their own is shrinking.

Take the case of Oyo founder, Ritesh Agarwal, who as an awkward teenager dared to drop out of school and hung around at startup events, going on to bag the famous Thiel Fellowship – that grants a US$ 1,00,000 to dropouts – with a kickass business plan. His business plan was not conceived in the cozy confines of air-conditioned offices. He created Oyo by traveling across the nation, living in budget motels and creating a business model around it. In 2012, as an 18-year-old, he could convince a bunch of hardnosed investors to put seed capital into his venture. Last year, he was able to close a deal with Japanese investment major Softbank for US$ 250 million.

It is heartening and alarming, all at the same time, that many youngsters are out there attempting entrepreneurship. Of course, most of them are incredibly smart and tech savvy, and are in the know of global happenings.

But I also encounter quite a few who find the idea of being an entrepreneur ‘sexy’ and ‘cool’.

Often times, it is to dodge questions about their career that they take recourse to the idea of ‘entrepreneurship.’

There are two massive challenges before us to prevent our young friends from falling prey to the pitfalls that accompany early stage entrepreneurship.

The first is to make them spend considerable time creating a viable business model. Of course, one can learn on the job and through mistakes (which are sometimes more expensive than most B-schools would bill you for). But I am all for the classical description

Harshvardhan Bhatkuly

of business – “any activity engaged in the primary purpose of making a profit.” The idea of customer acquisition, pricing, collection of dues and profitability – however ‘uncool’ that may sound, has to be drilled into them.

Instead of printing fancy business cards, I would recommend printing bill books. Along with the idea of profitability, equally important are the concepts of statutory compliances and taxation, that every entrepreneur must learn, or pay a heavy price later when s/he is in the thick of business; and would find time a huge luxury.

The second challenge is to be guided or mentored by the ‘right’ person. I am afraid that there are many mentors on the radar who do not possess the right credentials, experience, maturity or integrity to guide young unsuspecting souls in their maiden entry into the rough waters of entrepreneurship.

This is a serious issue because along with time and money, one wrong mentor could also rob a youngster of his confidence and leave him crippled and his potential or talent damaged.

Entrepreneurship, by its nature, is a solitary activity. Of course, there are exceptions of successful partnerships abounding the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

But by and large, it’s a solo trudging for many who have thrown their hat over the proverbial wall.

As stakeholders of the economic ecosystem, I would urge the various trade and industry bodies to create a system and initiatives where youngsters are made aware of the challenges of entrepreneurship; and make them market ready to surge ahead successfully.

It would be even more gratifying if these initiatives could be shared with entrepreneurs in rural Goa. That would be the change I wish to see

Printed, published and owned by Harshvardhan V. Bhatkuly and printed at Printek Printers and Published at 409, Citicentre, EDC Patto Plaza, Panaji - Goa 403001. Editor: Harshvardhan V. Bhatkuly

10 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

CorpoScan

@businessgoa

Protocol for star rating of garbage free cities launched Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs along with the Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar launched the ‘Protocol for Star Rating of Garbage-Free Cities’ in Goa at Old Secretariat on January 20, 2018.

The star-rating initiative, developed by the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban would be rating cities on a 7-star rating system based on multiple cleanliness indicators for solid waste management, which will include Door to Door Collection, bulk generator compliance, source segregation, sweeping, scientific processing of waste, scientific land filling, plastic waste management, construction and demolition management, dump remediation and citizen grievance redressal system, etc.

Cities can be rated as 1, 2,3,4,5 and 7 star based on

their compliance with the protocol conditions specified for each of the rating. Further city should be ODF (Open Defecation Free) before it could be given rating of 3 star or above. While cities may self-declare themselves as 1-star, 2-star or 4-star, MoHUA will carry out an additional verification through an independent third party to certify cities as 3-star, 5-star or 7-star. Cities will need to get recertified themselves every year to retain their star-status.

Secretary Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs Durga Shanker Mishra, Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma, Minister for Urban Development Francis D’Souza, Joint Secretary (SBM) GOL Vinod Kumar Jindal, Director Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited were present along with other government officials

Goa Tourism regales with Carnaval Goa’s annual festival Carnaval 2018 was celebrated with great pomp and vigour recently.

Minister for Tourism Manohar Ajgaonkar, along with all other officials and representatives from the government, Goa Police, traffic police, and other municipal bodies took stock of every minute detail towards ensuring the smooth and successful conduct of Carnaval.

Fifty-seven-year old Bruno Azaredo from Utorda was selected as King Momo for Goa Carnaval 2018 and led the float parades in all the major cities along with a colourful and elaborate entourage. The float parades were held in Panjim, Margao, Vasco, and Mapusa. Smaller parades were also held in Ponda, Curchorem, and Morjim. This year, the total prize money was increased to `7,35,000 per centre. All floats participating in the

Bruno Azaredo, King Momo of Goa Carnaval 2018

parades were screened by a committee to ensure that it followed the theme and did not violate any of the rules and regulations. For example, polluting vehicles in the junk car category and use of offensive exposure was not permitted in the parade.

Consumption of liquor and carrying of lethal weapons was also strictly prohibited

12 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

Goa Tourism begins Shigmo prep

Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar and GTDC Chairman Nilesh Cabral have been meeting with other officials and representatives from the government to discuss preparations for Shigmo to be held from March 3-17, 2018. Shigmo, which is Goa’s biggest spring festival, will be celebrated over a fortnight with gusto.

In order to ensure smooth conduct of the float parade, it has been decided that Romtamel should start at around 4 pm and the float parades by 6 pm so that all parades conclude by 10 pm.

It was also decided that large trolleys carrying tableaux from once centre to another should not be allowed to

move during the day.

They would only be allowed to ply via Borim Bridge during the day.

This year, a spectacular display of Goan ethnicity and mythology will be on show along with groups of dancers attired in traditional costumes coming from rural areas of the state.

The main highlight will be the elaborately built floats depicting scenes from regional mythology and religious scenes.

The Shigmo float parade will be in Ponda on March 3, Margao on March 4, Vasco on March 5, Sanguem on March 6, Sanquelim on March 7, Valpoi on March 8, Bicholim on March 9, Panaji on March 10, Mapusa on March 11, Pernem on March 12, Canacona on March 15, Quepem on March 14, Curchorem on March 15, Cucnolim on March 16 and Dharbandora on March 17

CII Goa Chairman’s view on Union Budget 2018 Atrey Sawant, chairman, CII Goa State Council has stated, “The budget promotes job creation, infrastructure, and focuses comprehensively on health, women, senior citizens, MSME and cashew sector.” He also noted that the government has implemented a series of structural reforms; FDI has gone up, and ease of business has improved.

The Budget of 2018 focused on many sectors, but those highlighted by the Chairman were health, agriculture, employment, fisheries, and the MSME sector.

With the National Health Protection Scheme, many more people will have the advantage of having h e a l t h insurance

coverage for the family with ten crore families getting health insurance. Sawant also commented that the new schemes in agriculture will help farmers make more money on the concept of consumption. He opined that the increase in the government’s contribution to the Provident Fund would help employment. He also pointed out that the cut in taxes will help the MSME sector. As far as Goa is concerned, the cashew and fisheries budget is set to bring in progressive change

“The budget promotes job creation, infrastructure, and focuses comprehensively on health, women, senior citizens, MSME and cashew sector” atrey sawant Chairman, CII Goa Council

CorpoScan

@businessgoa

Startup Nation magazine launched

National Girl Child day observed

R Mukundan, Shrinivas Dempo, Ninad Karpe, Kanika Tekriwal and Harshvardhan Bhatkuly

Startup Nation, a print magazine focused on the startup ecosystem in the country, was launched in Panaji recently. The publication was released

by R Mukundan, chairman and CEO of Tata Chemicals; Shrinivas Dempo, chairman of Dempo Group of Companies; Ninad Karpe, chairman of Western Region of CII; Kanika Tekriwal, founder-CEO of JetSetGo; along with Harshvardhan Bhatkuly, publisher-editor of the magazine.

Published by Savoir

Faire Media Pvt Ltd, which also brings out the monthly magazine, Business Goa, Startup Nation aims to create a platform for startups and their stakeholders.

Speaking at the event, Bhatkuly said, “We would like to bring to focus the many stories that abound the startup ecosystem in the country.

These stories will provide inspiration and valuable nuggets of case studies and first hand experiences shared by the movers and shakers in the startup space to aspiring entrepreneurs”

GTDC organises Taxi Operators Training Goa Tourism Development Corporation organized a soft skill training programme for the Tourists Taxi Operators at Vasco Residency recently.

The session was conducted after getting feedback during a meeting convened at GTDC recently in the presence of the Tourism Minister, Chairman GTDC, MPT Tourist Taxi Association and Tourism stakeholders.

The session was presented by Sanjeev Sardessai, renowned historian, to give the taxi operators insight into the importance of Goa’s history. He also briefed the participants on Goa’s journey earlier and now. The session also emphasized upon training on how to deal and understand the needs of its customers.

Pravin Sabnis, professional trainer, gave a presentation on soft skills.

He motivated the drivers by giving various examples and demonstrations.

Motor Vehicle Inspector of Transport Dept, Vasco, Ja De Sa presented a session on traffic rules and regulations to follow in the city.

Deepak Narvekar, PRO, GTDC welcomed the guest speakers and highlighted the objective of the training.

Gavin Dias, General Manager, GTDC explained GTDC’s role in sensitizing the taxi drivers and the role of a taxi driver in the tourism industry.

A written test was also conducted and certificates were given to those who cleared the test.

The session was conducted in the presence of Sanjay Kanojia, President, MPT Tourist Taxi Association; Govind Nagvekar, Vice President, MPT, Tourist Taxi Association; Gavin Dias, GM, GTDC; Deepak Narvekar, Senior Manager and PRO, GTDC; Francis Pereira, Manager, Vasco Residency; and Prasad Kavlekar, Asst.

Manager-Mktg, GTDC

14 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

Nila Mohanan, Dr Vandana Dhume, Dr Jose D’ Sa, Dr Sanjeev Dalvi, Dipak Desai and Meenakshi Martins present at the celebration of National Girl Child Day.

National Girl Child Day was observed by Directorate of Health Services (DHS), State Family Welfare Bureau (SFWB), Directorate of Women and Child Development (DWCD) in association with North Goa District Collectorate, Panaji at the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) on January 24, 2018. Collector and District Magistrate of North Goa Nila Mohanan, IAS was the chief guest for the function while Director of DWCD Dilip Desai was the guest of honour. Director of DHS Dr Sanjeev Dalvi, Dy Director Dr Jose D’Sa, Chief Medical Officer Dr Vandana Dhume and Konkani actress Dr Meenakshi Martins were present on the occasion.

The event began with lighting the lamp and welcome address by Dr Vandana Dhume, followed by the prize distribution for the short filmmaking competition held by DHS on the theme ‘Beti Bachao, Beti

Padhao’. Rucha Prabhudessai, Ella Marie Filinto Sequeira and Elton Bosco Coutinho won the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places respectively.

Addressing the gathering, Nila Mohanan, IAS said, “We should strive to provoke the thought of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ and women empowerment.

Gender equality is a journey in which both boys and girls should participate, as only women fighting for it makes it a lonely battle.”

“The message of women empowerment and education must reach the grassroots level. Goa is a small and educated state, and does not come across many such issues, however, each one of us must make an effort and work towards women empowerment,” she added.

Umesh Borkar compered the function while Dr Jose D’Sa proposed the vote of thanks. The event concluded with the screening of awardwinning short films

Excise authorities crack down on violations The Excise Department sent six Special Flying Squads to conduct surprise checks across Goa in its effort to curb violations of the Goa Excise Duty Act and Rules. Apart from these six flying squads all Excise Inspectors posted in each Taluka also conducted surprise checks in the late night hours starting from January 26.

A total of 26 violations such as sale of liquor without proper license, sale of liquor

beyond prescribed hours etc were booked by the team from the Excise Department.

Twelve cases were booked in Bardez taluka, followed

by Pernem, Canacona and Salcete.

The Excise Department has requested event organizers to obtain the appropriate license from the concerned taluka offices before organizing any event, which includes consumption of liquor

CoverStory

stop mining from 15th march, says supreme court 16 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

www.businessgoa.in

The prospects of mining in Goa were put paid to when the Supreme Court ordered its closure from March 15th. A detailed account of the judgement

By Team Business Goa

T

he saga of Goa’s mining industry took a drastic turn with the judgment of the Supreme Court on February 7, 2018.

NGO Goa Foundation’s plea challenging the renewals granted by the Goa government in 20142015 for mining leases and the reinstatement of environmental clearances to some of these leases by the Central Government in 2015 came to be upheld by the Supreme Court.

The prelude to this event doesn’t start in 2014 with the Supreme Court’s first judgment in the aftermath of the Shah Commission, but much earlier. Barring a few, almost all mining leases in Goa were originally granted as mining concessions by the

erstwhile Portuguese regime under what was called the Regulamento das Minas no Ultramar, 1906, under which a mining concession was perpetual.

After the liberation of Goa, erstwhile Portuguese laws were continued by the Indian Parliament until such time that a corresponding Indian law was extended to Goa. Accordingly, the Portuguese mining law continued to be in force until October 1, 1963, when the Indian mining law was extended to Goa, thus beginning a phase of chaos.

Since concepts under the two laws were rather different, it posed various anomalous situations, the biggest being that of the tenure of these concessions.

This led to litigation, culminating in a judgment

of the Bombay High Court directing the government not to treat the concessions as mining leases. The Central Government responded to this verdict by what in legal parlance is called a ‘validating legislation’, the Goa Mining Concessions (Abolition & Declaration as Mining Leases) Act, 1987. This law converted the concessions into mining leases by a deeming fiction, from an “appointed day” and allowed the government to collect royalty for such leases from that “appointed day”.

The “appointed day” though was not the date when this 1987 law was enacted, but was chosen by Parliament to be December 20, 1961.

The 1987 Act was challenged before the Bombay High Court but the challenge was repelled, except to the

extent that it was held that royalty could not be collected from 1961, but had to be collected only from 1987.

The challenge was further carried to the Supreme Court in 1997 and has since been pending, in view of constitutional issues in the matter, which require settling by a nine-judge constitution bench of the Apex Court.

In the meantime came the Shah Commission, leading to the April 2014 judgment of the Supreme Court, which essentially held that second renewals could not be automatic but had to be expressly granted.

In the operative directions of this judgment though, the Supreme Court used the phrase “fresh leases and fresh environmental clearances”.

There was widespread

FEBRUARY 2018 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 17

CoverStory

consensus amongst legal experts that what the Supreme Court had frowned upon and held illegal was mining being carried on between 2007 and 2012 without an express order of renewal and that the Supreme Court had not barred second renewals.

Most miners in Goa, whose concessions had been converted into leases in 1987 and who had the benefit of a first renewal as of right till 2007, had all applied well in time for their second renewals. Unfortunately, the Government of Goa sat on it for five years, presumably because until then the legal position, even as per the Bombay High Court, was that mining could continue till these applications were decided.

The 2014 Supreme Court judgment virtually laid down a new law by holding that the deemed extension otherwise available from a plain reading of a rule, was not available to applicants for second renewals. After this judgment, Goan miners expected their applications to be decided swiftly given the law laid down by the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the Government of Goa neither

@businessgoa

Most miners in Goa, whose concessions had been converted into leases in 1987 and who had the benefit of a first renewal as of right till 2007, had all applied well in time for their second renewals.

Unfortunately, the Government of Goa sat on it for five years

rejected the applications nor decided them, prompting some of the miners to approach the High Court.

The High Court then, in August 2014, held that the Supreme Court judgment did not bar renewals, but only required express orders before mining could be carried out. In this court proceeding, the Government of Goa argued that the leases had been declared dead by the Supreme Court and hence they could not be renewed.

Though this argument of the State was rejected by the High

18 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

Court, it was recorded in the High Court’s judgment, as is normally done and required in law. Little did anyone know that it was at this juncture that the fate of the Goan miners was actually sealed.

The judgment of the High Court was eventually carried in appeal to the Supreme Court by Goa Foundation in September 2014, but the Supreme Court did not grant a stay of the judgment.

Though there was no stay, the Government of Goa slept on this till November, eventually renewing a few leases in November.

With uncertainty looming over an impending legislative overhaul, there was a scramble and 88 leases eventually came to be renewed by the Government of Goa before the 2015 amendments came into effect.

What the amendments did was significant. A new regime of auctions alone for granting leases was introduced, thus doing away with the concept of renewals. Most pertinently, since this was going to be onerous on people who had made long term investments, by a deeming fiction, all mining leases already granted were “deemed” to be for 50

years, even if actually granted for shorter tenures.

This amendment could actually have put a quietus to the majority of issues of the Goan mining industry, since all leases were now deemed to be for 50 years.

Unfortunately for them, the 50 years in their case, because of the “appointed day” in the 1987 Act being defined as December 20, 1961, would get over in 2011. Hence, they had to fall back on another provision, which was a transitory provision allowing already renewed leases to carry on till the end of their renewal periods.

The 88 renewed leases would accordingly have expired in 2027. The renewal orders though came to be challenged in the Supreme Court by Goa Foundation.

Once again, the Supreme Court did not stay these orders and mining resumed.

The Government of Goa in the mean time set-up a SIT, a committee of CAs and also issued notices for some statutory violations based on the 2014 Supreme Court judgment. Strangely, neither of these exercises concluded.

Sources tell Business Goa that in the case of the statutory

CoverStory

violations, hearings were held more than a couple of times, but no orders were passed on account of transfer of concerned bureaucrats.

In fact, the SIT appeared to have swung into top gear only during the hearing of the latest proceeding in the Supreme Court and before that, appeared to have had a temporary heightened activity in June 2017.

A side story to the above events is that the Ministry of Environment & Forests had, in September 2012, put in abeyance all clearances of miners in Goa and had set up a committee which gave its report. After the 2014 judgment, the Supreme Court left it to the Ministry to take a call on the clearances.

The Ministry unfortunately appears to have swept the Committee’s report under the carpet and in March 2015 reinstated about half of the clearances to Goan miners.

Goa Foundation’s challenge to the High Court judgment of August 2014 and so also all the 88 renewals were eventually heard over a couple of weeks in November by the Supreme Court. The Goa Government, having already renewed 88 leases, this time argued that there was no impediment to the leases being renewed by it after the 2014 Supreme Court judgment. The Supreme

@businessgoa

The Goa Government could impress upon the Central Government to come out with a validating amendment to change the “appointed day” in the 1987 Act to 1987 itself. This, by virtue of the 2015 amendment will make the grant of Goan miners last until 2037 with no issues of renewal involved, which is the basis of the February 7 judgment Court did not take kindly to this and noted what the Goa Government had contended before the High Court and held that even the Goa Government had originally understood the word “fresh leases” to not mean renewed leases. It accordingly held that no renewals were at all possible after the 2014 judgment.

The Supreme Court also held that assuming renewals were possible, they could not have been done pending all the inquiries instituted by the State Government.

It also frowned upon the

20 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

hasty manner in which the exercise of renewals was done, tracing the timeline. On the environmental clearances, it held that, without acting on its own committee’s findings, the Central Government could not have reinstated the clearances that it did.

The Supreme Court has resultantly directed that all the 88 miners who had obtained the renewal orders shall stop mining after March 15. It has also directed that fresh mining leases should be granted in accordance with law (read, by auctioning).

With the verdict one of the final court, there is no further legal recourse to the miners. A lot of questions remain unanswered; why did the Goa Government first say no to renewals? Why did it wait between August and November 2014 to act on the High Court judgment, even though there was no stay by the Supreme Court? Why couldn’t it finish the various inquiries it instituted even after four years?

These questions though are only for academic pondering.

Goa’s mining industry appears to be headed for a fresh start on a clean slate.

With auctions being the only manner of grant of leases after the 2015 amendments, it remains to be seen, how many Goan miners survive in the

bidding, which is expected to draw in steel and natural resources majors from across the country.

Unless of course, the Goa Government impresses upon the Central Government to come out with a validating amendment to change the “appointed day” in the 1987 Act to 1987 itself, as suggested

by Goan legislator Nilesh Cabral at a press conference.

This, by virtue of the 2015 amendment will make the grant of Goan miners last until 2037 with no issues of renewal involved, which is the basis of the February 7 judgment.

Such legislations have been enacted by Parliament, most recently to defer the Supreme Court’s NEET judgment and also to overcome the Supreme Court’s jalikattu ban. In Goa, the State Assembly had enacted such a law when the Supreme Court had directed the demolition of a part of a five-star resort. In fact, that law was challenged in the Supreme Court and came to be upheld.

Contractors, transporters and long term buyers, apart from the relatively smaller Goan miners will all be watching with baited breath to see what course the Government chooses, one that will help them continue till 2037 or the auction of all the leases

FocusGoa

www.businessgoa.in

The Balancing Act

The Finance Minister has walked the tightrope with a budget that is more prudent than populist `40,000. Second, cess on income tax paid for all assessees has now gone up to 4% from the earlier 3%.

T

By Rohan Bhandare

he Budget is not just a provisional income and expense statement, but a roadmap of the economy. And, as with any map, it is imperative to follow all the routes leading and converging into ‘New India’. The last year has seen a slew of reforms in terms of the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act (RERA), the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and the Goods and Service Tax Act. The anti-tax avoidance measures as well as formalisation of the economy through demonetisation undertaken by the Government have borne fruit and the direct tax collections have shown a robust double-digit growth. With the Economic Survey hinting at a challenging fiscal situation and farmer stress, and given that Budget 2018 was the last full-term budget, the Finance Minister has found himself at the crossroads of populism and prudence. With this in mind, the focus of this Budget has been on strengthening the core foundation of the agricultural sector, rural economy, healthcare and infrastructure.

Agriculture & Rural Development Learning from its experience in the Gujarat elections, and keeping an eye on the major poll-bound states, the Finance Minister has given centerstage to the rural and farm sector. The Finance Minister has promised to deliver Minimum Support Price (MSP) with the objective that the farmers should realise at least 50% more than the cost of produce. This exercise will require a lot of number-crunching and hopefully the successful implementation will result in more disposable income for farmers. The other initiatives such as support to organic farming, doubling the expenditure allocation for food processing sector, Operation Green, developing Grameen Agricultural 22 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

Arun Jaitley with Santosh Gangwar and Arjin Ram Meghwal

Markets (GrAMs) and liberalisation of agricultural exports should provide a stable environment for farmers.

Modicare The announcement of the National Health Insurance Scheme is clearly pathbreaking for the sheer size, covering over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families – an estimated 50 crore individual beneficiaries – with coverage of up to `5 lakh per family per year. Alongside institutional changes such as the National Medical Commission Bill, this ushers India firmly in the next generation of social security. The Centre will have to get all the states onboard to chip in on the high annual costs as well as scale up the health infrastructure to cater to the ever-increasing medical needs of the population. It will also be interesting to see if Aadhaar would be used for identifying genuine beneficiaries.

Although the contours of the scheme are yet to be worked out, this may be put on the fast stack for an early rollout due to the upcoming elections.

Taxation of Salaries Many of us view the Budget in the same way as we would watch Sachin Tendulkar’s performances in cricket matches. If Sachin (i.e. the tax rates and deductions) gets dismissed, we would switch off the television with disgruntled faces. The two perennial candidates in the expectation list, the slab rates and the Section 80C Deductions limit remained unchanged.

Instead, Jaitley offered two measures that sum up to only a marginal relief. First, the `15,000 medical reimbursement and `19,200 transport reimbursement (except in the case of differently-abled persons) has been done away with and replaced with a standard deduction of

Taxation for Corporates The Finance Minister has partly adhered to his promise of lowering the Corporate tax to match international standards. The rate of 25% corporate tax rate has been extended to companies having turnover of up to INR 250 crore in FY 201617. However, by excluding the larger corporations at a time when the US and Europe have lowered its corporate tax, may hurt investments. While the new tax rate reopens the debate between a Company (25%) vs LLP (30%) model purely from a taxation standpoint, it is worth questioning if the lower tax benefit for companies would get nullified by the existing dividend distribution tax to be paid by companies (as well as the dividend tax borne by dividend receivers in certain cases).

Long Term Capital Gains (LTCG) Tax After 14 years of hiatus from tax, the rumours for the Long Term Capital Gains Tax resurfaced a few days before the Budget announcement, prompting many to sell their investments just days before the Budget. Existing investors can breathe a sigh of relief since the gains till January 31, 2018 have been grandfathered, and small investors have been provided with exemption from the tax on gains below rupees one lakh. However, addressing the elephant in the room has seen a bloodbath in the stock markets. The securities transaction tax (STT), which was introduced as an alternative to LTCG Tax would still continue. With changes in both the LTCG Tax and the tax on income distributed of equity oriented funds, we will have to revisit our investment portfolios to review the Equity and Fixed Income allocations.

Tax Relief to Senior Citizens Given that post office schemes and fixed deposits comprise a big chunk of senior citizens’ retirement corpus, the exemption of interest income on deposits with banks and post offices has been increased from `10,000 to `50,000.

Further, tax deductible at source will no longer be required on such income. Also, in consistency with the health theme, the limit of deduction for health insurance premium and/or medical expenditure has been raised from `30,000 to `50,000.

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Startups The Finance Minister promised to make changes to the policies governing venture capital and angel investments and to introduce hybrid instruments to attract foreign investments, although the specifics on these announcements were missing on Budget Day. Whilst there was no clarity on the long standing issue of ‘angel tax’, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) made an announcement days after the Budget that they are working on an amendment to provide relief to startups falling under a certain criteria and will setup a committee for the recognition of such start ups.

Further, the government’s initiative of speedy disposal of cases and not taking coercive measures against the startups is proof that the government

has been all ears to not only the pre-budget expectations, but also to the post budget reactions of the startup community.

In other proposals, it was heartening to see the Finance Minister embrace technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence and block chain. Startups should grab this opportunity of Digital India in critical areas of health, finance and education. The incentives to startups under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) are in consonance with the encouraging words of Nobel laureate, Serge Haroche to ‘Invent in India’.

The LTCG Tax may have left markets heartbroken, but interestingly, the silver lining could be a level playing field in taxation to some extent for private investments, which could further result in more

fundings for startups.

Focus Goa While there were no Goaspecific proposals in the Budget, the cashew industry can look forward to the provision of increasing the custom duty on cashew nuts, thereby spurring our domestic growth. Along with the reduced corporate tax rates, the MSME sector can gain from better management of working capital and faster discounting of bills on account of linking TReDS (Trade Electronic Receivable Discounting System) to the Goods and Service Tax Network.

As for Tourism, the Government has planned to develop ten prominent tourist sites into iconic tourism destinations. With the names still not out in the public domain, the tourism industry

can hope to be part of this development. With no dearth of water bodies, Goa can also throw its hat into the ring in the encouraging seaplane activities proposal for tourism and emergency medical care.

The Budget has been light on tax proposals this year, signifying a stable tax regime.

The fiscal deficit is a tad higher than we would have preferred and we certainly feel more could have been done to encourage private investments.

However, keeping in mind the financial constraints, the bond sell offs and the fact that the GST framework is yet to settle down, the Finance Minister has done a commendable task of walking the tightrope. Overall, the budget is more prudent than populist, combining ambitious social reforms with fiscal discipline

FEBRUARY 2018 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 23

FocusGoa

Cementing entrepreneurial bonds: Goa and USA

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With entrepreneurial activity soaring, there exists huge potential for Goans in the global arena in terms of entrepreneurship

By Maryann Lobo D’Mello

I

ndia is poised to become the new China very soon. It’s just a matter of time. Meanwhile, for entrepreneurs in Goa, the focus is to explore, dream and discover. This was echoed in the session on ‘Opportunities and Challenges for Entrepreneurs’ organized jointly by the GCCI, World Trade Centre – Goa Chapter and the National US India Chamber of Commerce (NUICC) on January 12, 2018. The keynote speaker was Purnima Voria, NUICC founder and CEO who has held some distinguished positions in the US as a global leader; recipient of awards like the ‘Ronald Reagan Gold Medal – Local Business Leader’; ‘United States of America Public Relations Chair’, ‘National Advisor to President Barack Obama’ et al. Her focus was to gauge the potential for collaboration between Goa and entrepreneurs in the US and around the world.

The participants, mostly persons engaged in some enterprise or the other, were a good mix of women and men. Chairperson of the Women’s Wing Dr Jennifer Kamat provided an overview of the GCCI and the Women’s Wing in particular, stating the role of the Chamber in the eco-psychosocial scenario. Many Goan entrepreneurs would like to export their products to the USA, but trade policies are a deterrent.

If some organization could oversee the entire process, there would be heightened entrepreneurial activity between Goa and the US as there exists huge potential in the area.

Is there a common platform to showcase and sell Goan products to the USA? A necessary pre-requisite is procuring the correct channel. Does the product or service have a market in the US? Which channel will connect and help reach out? What’s the best financial model? These questions necessitate seeking information and knowledge and procuring good advice as these dovetail one in to the other. What can Goa do?

Consequently, what does the State have to offer?

Food is a potential area. Goa has a wide array of food products, but not much has been done to further the base.

Cashew nuts, coconuts and paddy are in the limelight. Spices can weave their way 24 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

Practical tips that are in sync with personal and psychosocial development

• Be guided by your ‘gut feeling’ • Don’t quit your day job to become an entrepreneur because sometimes it may not be worth it. Consider whether that is the lifestyle you want.

• Don’t seek validation from others.

Your ‘gut feeling’ should indicate what to and what not to do.

• Don’t give up, no matter what challenges you face. Failure drives you to the next level.

• Innovate your products and services with the aim of improving them qualitatively.

• Continue to evolve and keep evolving. In the words of Walt Disney, “If you can dream it, you can do it”. into US markets. Vindaloo and vindaloo paste, sorpotel, xacuti and cafreal masalas, balchao and pickles have splendid scope.

Goan sweets like bebinca, dodol and doce are in great demand. In this context, the NUICC is committed to supporting entrepreneurs in Goa and in the global arena too. Fisheries are another export area. Coastal and inland water bodies account for marine fish production and export. Tinned products have good scope while fish oil capsules are in great demand in the US. The manufacturing sector is another goldmine. Computers, computer parts and allied services, optical fibres, power cables, conductors and a galaxy of technological products are viewed as assets in the US. Goa is on the high road to production of hardware.

The tertiary sector comprises of services which undoubtedly have a major role to play. The IT boom in Goa is on the accelerated pathway and some startups are engaged in developing complex apps for other services. There’s a good market for computer-related services,

call centre set-ups, network designing and installation, etc. These are some possibilities Goan entrepreneurs can work on for the US, while the US can provide mentorship.

Economic cooperation in the fields of IT, telecommunication, knowledge industries, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, mineral fuels, jewelery are favourable. But what is the strategy with regard to exports from Goa to the US? Good policies and clear, definite networks have to work in sync. Goan support in expressing and building this network can be valuable. That’s what the World Trade Centre, Goa, can be instrumental in, connecting entrepreneurs from the State to entrepreneurs in other countries.

What are the challenges faced in this context of entrepreneurship here? Women entrepreneurship is an important issue. Most women are bound to the home, but have scant access to education. Literacy too is sometimes denied. Women toil all their lives, but their work goes unaccounted and unpaid for. Conversely, men need to change their attitude towards women. Remarks like “You’re just a housewife. What do you know?” are damaging and affect a women’s sense of identity, feelings of self-worth and self esteem. Thus, women empowerment should not be merely in name. While “Women first, prosperity for all” is an apt slogan, the safety of women is of prime importance.

Fifty per cent of the female population are at home, often unaware of what to do besides tending to domestic chores.

NUICC is endeavoring to help women above 40 years old. But, even if women want to start an initiative or enterprise, this section encounters difficulties on four fronts: no finance to launch a small business; no support system; no networking and scant cooperation from male counterparts. Women need to be enlightened, empowered and supported.

In this context, the NUICC establishes businesses by bringing people together and promoting a business and cultural climate between the United States and India while also empowering and motivating entrepreneurs. We need more initiatives like this read your digital copy on>

StartingYoung

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Rohan Warty

Goa calling I

By RAMRAI NAIK

t is a common trend among migrant professionals to return to their roots armed with the experience to recreate what they have learned.

This usually occurs in the form of an entrepreneurial experiment.

Rohan Warty did just that within a year of moving out of Goa! He quit his job as business development manager at Jaro Education in Mumbai and returned to Goa. Rohan, then 24, founded the BPO startup Xerviz Wlobal in November 2015 to cater to the needs of IT Enabled Services in the state.

Xerviz Wlobal commenced its operations from Margao.

Warty’s vision was to tap into Goan talent, which he feels is still underutilized. He dreamed of creating more employment opportunities for the youth in the state as he feels they have been dependent on the hospitality industry for employment for far too long.

“Outsourcing is a growing industry in the country, but in Goa it was an ignored avenue till we started. There is still huge potential in the BPO business. Companies outsource most of their work to others so that they can focus on their core business areas,” says Warty who capitalized on the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) market in Goa, based on the lessons learnt during the start of his career.

Services Xerviz Wlobal initially started by providing telemarketing services to its clients. They then included lead generation, data services (which includes data research and data mining) as well as data entry to their service portfolio.

When the company expanded to B2B corporate marketing, the client list started to

Rohan Warty learned his trade in Mumbai, but returned to his roots to start Xerviz Wlobal, which caters to ITES needs in the state

multiply. In the recent past, Xerviz Wlobal has even ventured into transcription work.

Explaining their rationale, Warty says, “Lately, we are seeing traction in B2B corporate marketing.

Secondly, we decided to try our hand at transcription as this is a huge market that we were losing out on. In metros, there are BPOs with more than 500 employees only doing transcription for clients. There has to be a Goan company to address these needs,” According to the company website, “We provide a wide range of services like blended inbound and outbound calling services, efficient lead generation tactics, effective appointment settings and much more. We help you manage your data and

Rohan Warty

26 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

safeguard your valuable documents with security.”

High Client Retention The team at Xerviz Wlobal believes that their presence for the past two years has helped them earn a reputation in the market and this, in turn, makes it easier for prospective clients to find them. Word of mouth publicity has done wonders for the company, especially due to their ability to gain clients’ trust consistently.

“When we first started and I approached companies, most were hesitant as we were a new company. Now, things have changed. We are in our third year of operation and clients now approach us.

We are the only company in Goa that provides all these services under one roof,” Warty claims.

Considering Xerviz

Wlobal is 100% transparent with clients, it is no wonder that the company has high client retention, with contracts being renewed 95% of the time. Warty also credits Goa Technology Association (GTA), of which he is an active member, for providing him with a platform to network.

Although Xerviz Wlobal has established a strong presence in the market with clients from Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Australia, United Kingdom, and United States among others, the company has maintained competitive pricing for its multiple services.

Rohan claims their various services are offered at rates lower than domestic as well as international competitors. “Our clients are happy doing business with us as they can save on costs due to our affordable and quality services,” he says confidently.

Open Office Policy Xerviz Wlobal, which had a team of three during inception, currently has more than 30 direct and indirect employees. The company has an open arms policy when it comes to the hiring process and lays more emphasis on hiring locals and job-training.

Ninety percent of the employees are Goan. Almost 80% of my team consists of people fresh out of college.

If a person is a graduate or an undergraduate or even without a degree, but has potential, we hire without hesitation. We then take on the responsibility of grooming them for the job,” Warty elaborates. “ Te l e m a r k e t i n g , especially, does not require a degree. One only needs good communication skills, something that comes naturally to Goans. Our accent is also mostly neutral,

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compared to what is observed in other parts of the country.”

Challenges Commenting on the business scenario in the state, Warty says, “Every region has its pros and cons. Being a small state, resources in Goa are available in limited quantity. Skilled human resource is again a big challenge. Training has to be provided to everyone, especially because there are no other BPOs in the state that we can hire employees from.”

Warty is also concerned about the lack of a robust IT policy. He opines, “We do not have infrastructure nor do we have IT parks. Even Internet is a big challenge because we pay high tariffs on the services that are far cheaper in other states.” In the near future, Xerviz Wlobal wants to expand to Panaji. However,

the team is reluctant to move to the proposed IT parks in Tuem and Chimbel as poor transport connectivity is an important factor.

Despite the challenges, Warty has no plans of expanding into any other business and would rather focus completely on Xerviz Wlobal to increase its service portfolio. “This company is like my baby. The happiness I get from watching this baby grow is indescribable. It motivates me to keep working hard.” He continues, “I am an entrepreneur by choice.

Most startups fail in their year of inception. Sustaining business and growing at a consistent pace has been my biggest accomplishment.”

For Rohan Warty, support at the initial phase of a startup is very essential.

For him, it came from his mother and family. The young

entrepreneur has a simple motto for success, “Trust your idea, believe in it, hold on to it and you will get success.”

He adds, “A piece of advice my relative gave me will be etched in my mind forever: In the first phase, you have to run your business. In the second phase, the business will run itself. The third phase begins when the business looks after you.”

Accoridng to Warty, in 2015, when the central government came up with Startup India campaign, it created an atmosphere which promotes the culture of entrepreneurship. He continues, “It is in the minds of the public now. Even the earlier government had such initiatives, but they were not well publicised. Startup India, Make in India will definitely help us in the long term”

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FEBRUARY 2018 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 27

Enterprise

A

By RAMRAI NAIK

s the country is inching towards a consumerdriven economy, there comes a need to address many problems with tech-oriented enterprises.

Similarly, unprecedented growth in production numbers gives rise to counterfeit in the market, which then requires validation of its authenticity.

In the same direction, KLASSIC Labels & Barcode Technologies has played a pivotal role in providing enterprise mobility solutions to businesses in Goa. KLASSIC was established in the year 1998 in Margao. The unavailability of Automated Identification and Data Capture businesses in the Goan market back then led Venu Reddy to enter this segment. The Margao-based venture is a leading name in manufacturing sticker labels in roll-to-roll form and can cater to a business or industry of any size, by customizing labels and barcode machines according to its needs and requirements.

In its founding years, many national and multinational industries had expanded their units in Goa, therefore creating a major demand. In the same period, founder and proprietor Venu Reddy banked heavily on pharmaceutical and electronic companies.

Before starting the business, Reddy researched the Goan market extensively and found that most of the companies in Goa relied on foreign companies to acquire barcode solutions.

He further observed that this was expensive, which led to many opting not to procure barcodes.

For a long time, Reddy’s main struggle was to get the best technologies in order to make it reasonably priced.

He believes that he has been fairly successful in achieving that, not only thanks to his own efforts, but also industrialization. “Today, it is

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KLASSIC Labels & Barcode Technologies

Solutions to reduce human error

KLASSIC can cater to a business or industry of any size by customizing labels and barcode machines

easy to procure raw materials in the country; and they have also become reasonably cheaper.”

KLASSIC initially started with dealership of labels and barcode machines for Goa. “Barcode machines were difficult to find in the domestic market as nobody manufactured them in India back then. Through our dealership, we made them available to businesses,” states Reddy.

KLASSIC gained business from world class brands like Zebra, TVS, Honeywell and others for barcode-related products.

Simultaneously, the company started a manufacturing facility for specialty labels which included warranty labels, high temperature labels, cable labels, etc. “Before our entry into the market, industry had to outsource these requirements,” informs Reddy, adding, “Now, we supply labels to most of the players in the pharmaceutical, automobile, hospitality, packaging and electronic sectors.”

KLASSIC manufactures customized labels that can withstand low or high temperatures. In case of

28 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

high temperature labels, the company can manufacture labels that can withstand up to 300 degrees celsius.

KLASSIC manufactures specialty adhesive labels, which includes long-life labels for computers and electronics. They are also tamper-evident labels and security-printed labels. It also produces labels and tags for barcode printers which cater to garment, jewelry, shipping sectors, etc. Apart from that, they are also involved in manufacturing flexo printed self adhesive paper and film labels, which broadly covers the pharmaceutical, liquor, FMCG and food industries.

Under its dealership portfolio, KLASSIC deals in barcode scanners and printers, POS machines and peripherals, data collection units, industrial scanners etc.

The Margao-based enterprise had three clients in the first year of inception.

Two decades down the line, it has built up a clientele of more than 1000. Most of these are small and medium scale enterprises that KLASSIC provides with economical solutions.

“Since the start of our business, we have realized

that we have to adapt to new developments evolving around us or we will lag behind. Therefore, visiting exhibitions, learning from other parts of the world is an important exercise for us. Secondly, improving our existing technologies and providing our clients more options is something we always strive for,” says Reddy.

“We provide quality without any compromises whatsoever. Our specialty is customization. We believe in honouring any request our clients make. We are even willing to expand our service and product profile according to our clients’ demands.”

“We deliver our products all over Goa with major focus on industrial estates. Our staff also provides technical support when required. In case of emergencies, our engineers provide immediate solutions,” says Reddy.

“Our clients are our brand ambassadors. We acquire new businesses because of their referrals. Apart from that, we have an in-house marketing team. Initially, I personally took care of marketing,” he says.

Lately, KLASSIC has been feeling the pinch in production of lower segment labels as there are other competitors in the market who do not hesitate to compromise on quality to offer a cheaper product.

However, the company does not foresee threats from players when it comes to specialized labels. “Having our own manufacturing facility enables us to design labels based on whatever our clients order, even the most economical options,” says Reddy.

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Confident of the technology at his enterprise, Reddy believes that it is now easier to get to such mainstream technologies.

“Back in the 1990s, there was no awareness among businesses to use high-end technologies in their dayto-day operations. However, a lot has changed now since these have become affordable and people want to opt for solutions to ease their workload. Barcode technologies can do away with many written accounting practices and reduces human error,” he informs.

“GST has been a game changer. Prices have reduced drastically. In previous tax regimes, we did not see benefits as we relied on other states for raw materials.

However, this has been heavily incentivized thanks to GST. Many businesses have yet to register. I hope they do as the benefits far outweigh

“Before our entry into the market, industry had to outsource these requirements.

Now, we supply labels to most of the players in the pharmaceutical, automobile, hospitality, packaging and electronic sectors” Venu Reddy the cost,” urges Reddy.

KLASSIC Labels and Barcode Technologies has a branch office in Hyderabad, which helps the company manage the southern market.

This involves clients based out of Belagavi, Bagalkot, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, etc.

KLASSIC is now looking to penetrate Maharashtra as Reddy sees growth potential in that market.

Elaborating on some of the challenges in the industry,

Reddy explains, “We face huge difficulty in procuring skilled manpower. We have to train all employees according to our industrial standards.

Secondly, transportation is not up to the mark in the state, due to which we have many problems as we supply throughout Goa.” Interestingly, Reddy feels that businesses should be run in a ‘susegado’ manner as he believes that being tensionfree leads to maximum

efficiency. A few years down the line, Reddy expects to change his business strategy to facilitate expansion with the aid of the latest technologies and services.

Venu Reddy is a member of Business Network International (BNI) and Lions Club of Margao. He believes that these organizations enable members to collectively grow and share knowledge.

When asked what advice he would offer the country’s youth, Reddy said, “The youth will be India’s engines of growth in the future. They have many ideas and can execute these well with their abilities and dedication. They will solve the unemployment issue in the country.

Industries have to play an active role to encourage young entrepreneurs by financing, mentoring as well as providing them technical training on various fronts to plan their businesses”

FEBRUARY 2018 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 29

InterView

In conversation with architect Raya Shankhwalker, who is serving as the current honorary secretary of Goa Heritage Action Group and is the guiding force behind its ongoing efforts

involved in world affairs. Instilling in them a sense of pride for our heritage will ensure that they take up the mantle of heritage protection and conservation, in the coming years. The trouble is that many such groups tend to become elitist, involving only experts and probable patrons. But our aim is to make this an inclusive, youth-driven movement.

What are the other new focuses of GHAG? Up until now, we have been overtly focusing on the built and natural

Raya Shankhwalker

Why is youth participation important?

We believe that the continuation of preservation efforts can only be possible if the younger generations are aware of and associated with Goan Heritage. The sustainability of the project is threatened in the long run if the younger generations are kept at bay from these issues. The new generation is smart and action-oriented.

They are challenging and changing status quo with their activism and are widely 30 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

How does GHAG hope to accomplish its goals?

We aim to grow the organization. The foundation of GHAG is participation of the people. We are concentrating on our social media channels to garner

“Instilling a sense of pride for our heritage in youngsters will ensure that they take up the mantle for its protection”

Raya Shankhwalker is a multidisciplinary architect based in Goa, whose work seamlessly encompasses interior and landscape design. He views each new project as a possibility of original expression rather than being shackled to a singular style and bear cultural, social and environmental sensitivities. Currently serving as the honorary secretary of Goa Heritage Action Group (GHAG), he is the guiding force behind its ongoing efforts.

What is the Group about?

Goa Heritage Action Group is an NGO formed in the year 2000, by professionals who shared a passion for Goa and Goan Heritage. It has had an impactful history over the past 17 years and has made several contributions toward the cause of heritage conservation. The main drive behind the formation of GHAG was active documentation of Goa’s heritage.

Today, the current committee also focuses on making conservation a mass movement driven by public participation and involvement of the Goan people, with special focus on the youth of Goa. This sort of mass movement is one of the most efficient routes to garner the support of the authorities and policymakers. Our primary object is to help bring in a new era of heritage-friendly legislation, backed by the contribution and support of the citizens of Goa.

making them relevant to modern lifestyle. Through education and training programs, we will endeavour to bring a contemporary design into their crafts, while upholding traditional knowledge and techniques.

heritage of Goa for the last 17 years. Our focus has now grown wider to include Goa’s intangible heritage. By intangible heritage we mean all aspects of language, literature, festivals and the agrarian tradition. Currently, our main emphasis is on the agrarian and craft tradition.

Unfortunately, both are marginalized from mainstream society, and are facing the danger of extinction.

How can the readers help with the conservation of agrarian and craft traditions?

A simple and practical solution would be to contribute to the economic development of the agrarian and artisan community by purchasing their products.

The benefits of locally grown crops are unrivaled – the majority of produce grown in Goa is organic and the freshness is retained due to immediate sale. If every Goan family converts a small percentage of their household requirements and begins to use indigenous produce, it would give an encouraging boost to local farmers. Similarly when it comes to craft, there are several options available like clay, bamboo, copper and brass artifacts.

If every family buys a few earthenware items, imagine the large-scale impact it can have on traditional artisan communities. From our side, GHAG will concentrate on collaborating with local craftsmen and adapt their products,

maximum local support. We are investing a lot of energy in bringing quality online content to our followers by compiling a database of curated photographs and documents. We launched the #goaheritage on Instagram last year. We are encouraging our followers to use the hashtag and have already witnessed an increase in the number of posts available under it, as more people continue to actively contribute and participate.

Soon, we will introduce a mass outreach initiative too, using media like posters and published material. Finally, we already conduct heritage walks, but we are also in the midst of planning exciting future events so that the message of heritage conservation and protection reaches far and wide, to all corners of Goa. Any message to our readers?

I’d like to thank our supporters for the overwhelming reactions and enthusiasm. So many interesting writers, historians, photographers, illustrators and homecooks have interacted with us via social media. It’s an exciting online community that we are building and I urge every one to be part of it. Your support and input is vital, and we are a platform that values your individual voice and passion for Goa. It is only with the nurturing of the local community that Goan heritage can truly flourish. We invite all to be part of the GHAG initiative.

To become a part of this important narrative we have begun, you can always find us on Instagram – @goaheritage or leave a message on our Facebook page – Goa Heritage Action Group

Industry

@businessgoa

Mahalasa Accoustic secures exclusive $1million turnkey deal to power US Army base The project will provide primary power and heating solutions to a US Army base which will house 200 army families

By RAMRAI NAIK

V

ICC (Venco Imtiaz Construction Company), the global construction giant, has collaborated with Mahalasa Accoustic, the Goa-headquartered Electrical Switchboards and Compact Substation manufacturer, to power an entire US Army base in Afghanistan. The deal came at the backdrop of the MiddleEast Expo in Dubai, in which the Goan manufacturer annually participates, as part of the Pai Kane Group. The turnkey project awarded by VICC is truly one of its kind as the products manufactured by Mahalasa Accoustic will be the prime source of electricity for the entire base and will be supplemented by the company’s bestselling gensets, which supply dependable power.

The contract is valued at over a million US dollars and will be completed by the next quarter under the able leadership of the Pai Kane Group. The switchboards supplied by Mahalasa Accoustic will be the main panels powering the base. Besides switchboards, the company will also supply AVRs, UPS, load banks, etc combined with Gensets from the parent company, thus providing a complete turnkey power solution.

Since its inception, Mahalasa Accoustic has been involved in numerous niche projects. It represents the electrical business of the Pai Kane Group and mainly involves electrical switchboards, compact sub stations, Automatic Voltage Regulators (AVR), UPS, Load Banks, etc.

Siddharth Naik, Business Head of Mahalasa Accoustic, says, “We provide complete solutions to customers’ power needs. We have a 17-year history and an over 10-year record of turnkey projects in the export market. Currently, we are exporting to 60 nations worldwide with complete in-house design-to-dispatch capability.” Speaking further on the Afghanistan contract, Siddharth elaborates, “They had approached us at the Middle-East Expo in Dubai and exhibited interest in working with us. The idea of catering to a reputed international customer for a challenging project naturally attracted us. Our team was interviewed and facilities were inspected by consultants from Philippines, US, Afghanistan and we were able to showcase our technical and project-execution abilities to their satisfaction.” Siddharth recounts the initial stages of the deal with VICC, “When they approached us, they only wanted a diesel generator for electricity and hot water generators. However, when we showcased our product portfolio, they realised that the Pai Kane Group has capabilities across mechanical

“We provide complete solutions to customers’ power needs. We have a 17-year history and an over 10-year record of turnkey projects in the export market. Currently, we are exporting to 60 nations worldwide with complete in-house design-to-dispatch capability” Siddharth Naik

Business Head, Mahalasa Accoustic

32 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

as well as electrical domains which led them to further their business with us.”

Quality Checks Neelanjan Dasgupto, Sales Head of Mahalasa Accoustic, informs us about the standard criteria demanded by VICC, “They were basically focused on the quality and had asked us for international standard certifications; since quality has been our focus, and we have all important certifications.”

Further highlighting the stark difference between domestic and foreign clients, Neelanjan claims, “Indian customers are price conscious, therefore a lot of negotiations take place with regard to the cost of a project. However, in the export market, the main focus is quality. Once you are approved as a quality supplier, half the battle is won. Price figures at the end of their checklist of requirements.”

“Some of the challenges we faced were when VICC asked us to source certain components from the US for their comfort. We had to make sure that we can source quality components from international suppliers within project timelines,” Neelanjan

adds. Siddharth credits the parent group Pai Kane for having a global presence and brand recognition, which helps them in negotiations, customer-site inspections in Afghanistan and to source components at a global level.

Investing in new technologies is vital for the company to enhance its capabilities and expand. In addition to various equipments and provisions, the Pai Kane Group has state of the art laser-cutting and powder-coating facilities at Tuem. According to Neelanjan, Pai Kane Group’s strength lies in its design and production capabilities, all of which work towards the goal of high quality. “We execute all the jobs from the first to last stage. We design, punch, bend, fabricate, powdercoat, assemble, and test the finished product right here.

We don’t outsource anything.

This gives us complete control over quality as well as project management.”

On being asked about the ease of doing business in the country, Siddharth says, “If not single window clearance mechanism, one can certainly see improvements on various fronts. Therefore, I feel the 42-rank jump on the global front in the last three years is justified. For example, earlier, estimating dispatchto-receipt time of an export consignment was not easy which limited our ability to commit specific deliverydates to export customers, but improvements by the

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Indian Government in logistics infrastructure have helped.” He adds, “GST has further improved the business environment by completely eliminating the tax differential. Now, there is no cascading effect of taxation on equipment imported from outside Goa – something we were largely affected by in the past. GST now empowers us to be a price-competitive supplier to any customer in the country.” According to Mahalasa Accoustic, through his campaigns, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created great visibility for Indian companies, which is changing global perception. India’s manufacturing prowess is now being acknowledged across the world. “India is getting good reviews from the international business community and this is benefitting the entire industry.

We have been experiencing this, especially in the Middle

“Indian customers are price conscious, therefore a lot of negotiations take place with regard to the cost of a project. However, in the export market, the main focus is quality.

As a quality supplier, half the battle is won.

Price figures at the end of their checklist of requirements” Neelanjan Dasgupto Sales Head, Mahalasa Accoustic

Eastern region and some parts of Europe.”

Recent Developments The Afghan contract is of great significance to the Pai Kane Group and has enhanced its global credentials, while the company is also involved in other key projects around the world. The Group has been successful in acquiring an order for stand-alone sync panels and high-rated gensets

for the Singapore Grand Prix.

“We have been awarded the contract for four successive years. At a Formula 1 race, even a second-long power failure can have disastrous consequences. Hence, it is not an easy task to bag such an order,” Siddharth tells Business Goa. The Pai Kane Group has supplied gas generators and compact substations to locations in Iran. It is also involved in

powering a data centre based in Nepal. Similarly, other regions of the world that the company has supplied to are Namibia, Tanzania, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.

While the company continues to scale new heights on the global scene, it is very much grounded in its roots in Goa and has been actively promoting its top-of-theline Compact Substations (CSS) for the Goa market.

Mahalasa Accoustic’s CSS can be seen powering commercial installations on the vibrant coastal belt of Goa. Here, too, customers are increasingly turning to Mahalasa Accoustic for complete power solutions including CSS, switchboards and gensets.

“We are very happy with our journey so far and continue to invest in our people and infrastructure, both of which are key to meeting the everincreasing and changing demands of the market”

FEBRUARY 2018 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 33

GoanBrand

@businessgoa

Digital Goa

Pioneer of Short News

The major breakthrough for Digital Goa came when the company started an SMS news service in 2005

By RAMRAI NAIK

L

ocal online media company Digital Goa had a pathbreaking entry into the Goan media space 15 years ago. Today, it has a presence in almost every household in the state.

Under the far-sighted leadership of its founder and editor Niraj Naik, the company has grown exponentially into a leading brand in Goa. The name Digital Goa is familiar to all news junkies as it has been consistently feeding them with their daily dose of information through its SMS news service.

Although SMS remains its popular medium, the company has spread its reach to other mobile and online-based platforms. Revealing how he identified the need for such a service, Niraj Naik says, “Short, breaking news has been a big hit in recent times with people increasingly finding themselves short on time to keep themselves abreast with the latest developments happening around them.”

Niraj Naik credits his wife Sangeeta Naik, an IT professional, for their success.

Sangeeta has been at the forefront since the founding days and plays a pivotal role in day-to-day operations.

Early Influence Niraj Naik, a journalist by profession, 34 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

started his career with Goan daily Herald in 1995. At the publication, Naik used to write on environment, social issues, and current affairs, among other subjects. According to Naik, there was complete freedom at Herald, but he was not satisfied and wanted to do something more challenging.

In 1999, he and his wife quit their jobs in Goa and moved to Delhi. Sangeeta took up teaching in a management school while Niraj joined a news website for a brief period. Soon after, he joined the Janmabhoomi Group of Newspapers as Delhi Bureau Chief, where Niraj extensively covered both the houses of Parliament.

Their hunger for challenges then took the couple to Malaysia where Sangeeta joined an American University while Niraj worked for an Indian news agency writing on Indian diaspora in the country.

At that point of time, Malaysia and other South-East Asian countries had undertaken rapid economic and technological advancement. “I was exposed to the IT boom. There was a heavy mobile presence and people were experimenting with new technologies.

Then it struck me. Why not marry journalism with IT? And that’s how we started Digital Goa in 2002 after returning to Goa,” Naik said.

Digital Goa initially started an online

tabloid which comprised of reports on events and progress in the IT sector of the state. It started disseminating information through interviews, knowledge series, articles, notifications, etc. The newly founded IT forum attracted all stakeholders – educationists, students, professionals, government bodies, bureaucrats etc.

The Big Break The major breakthrough for Digital Goa came when the company started an SMS news service in 2005. It went beyond the IT lens and reported on every major development in the state.

“It may be noted that it was the presocial media era and there were one or two local cable TV channels that used to telecast hour-long news capsules containing day-old news. The only source of the latest news was radio and the newspapers that would disseminate news the following morning. Technology was slow despite the growing popularity of phones, hence we devised a way to disseminate news immediately. At the time, SMS was the quickest form of communication,” elaborates Niraj.

According to Niraj, even an email news service was started, but it was not well received as there were no push notifications on mobile devices at the time. However, the SMS service became an instant hit among the Goan masses and demand grew.

“No matter how innovative you are, if what you’re doing is not useful, people will not pay for it. Innovation without utility is not appreciated. Goans want to know the latest happenings around them.

They are also politically aware due to their clear political affiliations and want to be tuned into the latest in politics,” says Naik while divulging how Digital Goa grew popular.

Since 2005, the media company has been breaking all the latest developments in the state within 160 characters.

Instability and coalition governments have meant that people are always talking about the political situation in the state and this further fuelled the demand for an instant SMS news service. Due to its nonstop independent reporting, people from all walks of life subscribe to Digital Goa. The Digital Goa SMS service’s popularity has never been hindered by the fact that it is a paid service. However, it continues to remain free from any kind of advertisement. The company, therefore, has been very successful and is among the handful of media companies which runs entirely on a subscription-based

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model. Sharing his views on this, Niraj says, “We have maintained a clear stance – if the service is useful to you, then you should be able to pay for it. We never force anyone to subscribe to our service.

The most we do is provide a week’s trial. If subscribers find it useful, they happily pay for a subscription.”

Niraj resisted the temptation to use social media for a very long time, but the growing influence of WhatsApp changed his mind.

The limitations that came with using SMS were solved with the use of WhatsApp. The news firm now sends detailed news on the platform, along with exclusive stories from other newspapers, and a compilation of events and happenings in the state.

On average, four SMSes are sent per day. Determining the authenticity of news information is imperative.

“No matter how innovative you are, if what you’re doing is not useful, people will not pay for it. Innovation without utility is not appreciated. Goans want to know the latest happenings around them. They are also politically aware due to their clear political affiliations and want to be tuned into the latest in politics” Niraj Naik

Founder, Digital Goa

Even selection of news becomes a vital task as Niraj believes, “It has to be worth our subscribers’ time; we cannot afford to spam.

We have worked hard to penetrate every household and will never compromise on ethics. We have no political affiliation. This has helped us

in the long term scheme of things,” Naik states.

The Way Ahead Niraj feels that SMSes will be relevant for a long time, especially since social media is cluttered. But, this hasn’t stopped Digital Goa from having a presence on

Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, and YouTube (through a recently launched channel).

The company also saw huge traction when it debuted on Android and iOS with its news app City Breaking, thereby registering a global presence. There have been significant downloads in Australia, UK and countries in the Middle East.

Niraj believes that operating from Goa has its own set of advantages and disadvantages.

Although he could capitalise on the digital platform like no one else, he missed out on many opportunities available in metropolitan cities.

And Niraj Naik is not done yet. The journalist-turnedentrepreneur is now looking to expand his media presence through a partnership with a like-minded media company or a venture capitalist. Watch out for more from them!

FEBRUARY 2018 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 35

Accolades

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Space Deal Goa dazzles at Asia’s Greatest Brands & Leaders 2017 T

he second edition of ‘Asia’s Greatest Brands & Leaders 2017’ and the IndoSingapore Business & Social Forum 2018 were held on January 29, 2018 at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. The event was dedicated to those brands and personalities who are exclusive, exceptional and extraordinary.

The summit celebrated leaders who have not only worked to place their brands globally, but have also embossed Asia on the world map. It was attended by big brand owners, CEOs, government officials, philanthropists and leading economists from Asia.

In the “AsiaOne Global Asian of The Year 2017” category, among the nine awardees felicitated were Nurallah K Veljee, Managing Director, Space Deal Pvt Ltd; and Harsh Goenka, Chairman, RPG Enterprises.

Over 16 industries participated in the summit, where more than 100 award winners were commended.

Some of the other notable awardees included Geetanjali Kirloskar, Director, Kirloskar Technologies Pvt Ltd, who received the Top Woman Achiever of the Year 2017 and Vivek Patni, Director, Wonder Cement, who received the

AsiaOne 40 Most Influential Asians under 40 Award.

The event also included two panel discussions; both were moderated by Anam Kumar – Chief Editor, AsiaOne magazine. The topic for the first discussion was “Is Asia Ready to Propel

the Future Global Economy Engine?”

The panellists included Arun Pudur, founder and group president, Celframe; Yogesh B Dutta, Chief Operating Officer, CP Plus; S K Chaudhary, director, Safex Chemicals (India) Ltd., and Shawn Gracias, Chief Executive Officer, REMAX

Faizrakhman Kassenov, Minister-Consular, Kazakhstan Embassy in Singapore (Esq.) handing over the plaque to Nurallah K. Veljee

Nurallah K Veljee: A pioneer in Goan realty

A

mbitious, aggressive and audacious are the three adjectives that best describe Nurallah Kamruddin Veljee, a pioneer in the real estate consultancy business in Goa. Veljee, who was mentored early by his advocate and entrepreneur brother, the late Nazim Veljee, forayed into real estate in 1982. He has negotiated huge land deals and constructed spaces in Goa and Mumbai and has

the distinction of introducing eminent builders to Goa, enabling quality projects to dot the Goan landscape at a time when real estate business had not yet taken off. In time, he carved a niche in another untouched area – dispute resolutions.

In the early 2000s, Veljee diversified into construction but gave it up to concentrate on real estate consultancy.

In 2015, he consolidated

SpaceDeal.

The second subject discussed was “How Much of Local is Good in Global?”

Covering all sectors of the corporate world – education, media, industry, financial services and realty, various stalwarts and leaders attended the event.

Representing Goa in the realty sector was Nurallah K Veljee, managing director, Space Deal Pvt Ltd Goa and Nitin Kamat VP Sales & Marketing who received “Asia’s Greatest Brand 2017 Award” on behalf of Space Deal Pvt Ltd, Goa. The prestigious “AsiaOne 40 Most Influential Asians under 40 2017 Award” was received by Shawn Gracias, thus cementing Space Deal’s reputation as a real estate firm par excellence across Asia

his business along with codirector, Doris Teresa Veljee, to form an umbrella real estate company offering everything in real estate under one roof.

Space Deal Pvt. Ltd bagged Asia’s Greatest Brands 2017 Award and Nurallah Veljee did Goa proud by being felicitated as the “Only Goan Entrepreneur” with the prestigious AsiaOne Global Asian of The Year 2017 Award held at Singapore

Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad feted for contribution to education

T

he Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad has been named one of ‘Asia’s 100 Greatest Brands 2017’, (Education K-12 Category).

The not-for-profit institution was recognised as part of the second annual edition of Asia’s Greatest Brands and Leaders Awards 2017 presented by AsiaOne magazine and URS Media.

This was the first time a not-for-profit education institution has been identified for brand strength in the India-Asia region.

Plaque of “Asia’s Greatest Brand” that was bestowed to The Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad for contribution to Education K-12 category

The Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad was established to provide exceptional students

36 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

from all backgrounds with an outstanding education. The Academy strives to represent a diverse range of economic, cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds, and focus on students who have the ability and motivation to excel academically and demonstrate leadership in community service and other co-curricular pursuits.

Dr Geoffrey Fisher, Head of Academy, was acknowledged as one of “Asia’s Greatest Leaders 2017.”

“We are absolutely delighted

to have been recognized in this way,” remarked Dr Fisher.

“News and social media campaigns of the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad will now reach wider audiences through being integrated on AsiaOne’s web portals, bringing the possibility of world-class, holistic education to a greater number of prospective students who can be empowered as stewards to make a positive contribution in a changing world. This opportunity provides us with great joy,” said Fisher

Campus

BookShelf

People’s HSS students excel in national election quiz

Sachin Panickar and Ashlesha Naik

Sachin Panickar and Ashlesha Naik, students of People’s Higher Secondary School, Mala-Panaji and representing the state of Goa, excelled at the National Election Quiz organised by Election Commission of India, New Delhi for school students studying in class IX to XII. As many an 38,000 schools and 13.16 lakh students participated in the initial rounds. Goa won the west zone round to secure a place in the national finals where they managed to win the fifth place and prize money of

`50,000.

National Elections Quiz, 2018, a panIndia knowledge venture on election and electoral processes, is perhaps the world’s largest Inter-School Quiz Contest on elections.

This was the brain child of Systematic Voters Education and Electoral participation (SVEEP) Division of the Election Commission of India. It is aimed as an outreach initiative for future electors of the country dedicated to ECI’s theme for the year 2017, ‘Empowering young and future electors’.

Rajya Sabha TV will telecast seven episodes of the zonals and grand finale. It was conducted from January 14 to 16, 2018 at New Delhi. The People’s Higher Secondary School team was guided by their teacher Naguesh S Sardessai

@businessgoa

Celebrating India’s startup warriors

The Tip of the Iceberg: The Unknown Truth behind India’s Startups, by Suveen Sinha captures the toil and tears – as well creativity and craft – of the wave of entrepreneurship sweeping across India, through 15 startup profiles.

The success of start-ups has veered the discourse towards

high valuations. But what we see is very much the tip of the iceberg. Behind every high valuation of today is a story of blood, sweat, toil and tears.

It is a desire to change the world that drives successful entrepreneurs, for they alone have the blind passion that is often the difference between success and failure and they are the ones who love the journey more than the destination.

The book covers the stories of Vijay Shekhar Sharma of PayTM, Bhavesh Agarwal of Ola, and many more. It is definitely a must read for those interested in getting acquainted with the Indian startup space

BG CROSSWORD 98

QUIZZARETM

First ‘Engineering Ethics Programme’ held at BITS

BITS Pilani KK Birla Goa campus recently hosted the first two-week ‘Engineering Ethics Programme’ organized for 17 students of Texas A&M University, USA. The professors of Texas A&M University, Prof Paul Mario Koola and Prof John Curry O’Day, jointly conducted this course for their students at BITS Pilani Goa Campus.

The pogramme was jointly coordinated by Prof N N Ghosh (Dept of Chemistry), Associate Dean, International Programmes

and Collaboration Division (IPCD), and Prof M Srikanth (Dept of Biological Sciences), the former Associate Dean, IPCD. The aim was to educate students in Engineering Ethics in a new environment. The material covered included development of techniques of moral analysis to ethical problems encountered by engineers, environmental issues, ethical aspects of safety, risk and liability, and public welfare, conflicts of interest, and developing the capacity for ethical analysis of real and hypothetical cases.

The visiting students were also exposed to Goan culture by visiting various prominent places in the state

38 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

Across: 1. Food delivery marketplace company, acquired by Ola in December 2017 (9) 6. Return on equity, in short (3) 7. A help feature of a software package, also a man with magical powers in stories (6) 8. Powder used in laser printers, also the name for a skincare product (5) 9. Mumbai–based cement company (3) 10. ______ Millia Islamia, a public central university in Delhi (5) 11. _______ Heptulla, Indian politician and chancellor of 10 Across, as of Dec 2017 (5) 13. Indian skincare clinic chain promoted by Marico (4) 14. ___ – ray, a digital optical disc data storage format, especially used for high definition video (3) Down: 1. Amazon ____ TV, a device for streaming video, music and games on a TV from the internet (4) 2. Time spent in office beyond normal working hours (8) 3. New Delhi– based helicopter service company (5, 4) 4. Mobile gaming studio and maker of ‘Chhota Bheem’ games, that will launch an IPO in FY 18 (6) 5. India’s first low-cost airline that has re-launched in 2017 (3,6) 10. ______ Ma, Chinese business tycoon and founder of Alibaba Group (4) 12. American company making speakers, headphones, etc. (3) answers to crossword 97 Across 1. Atul Sobti 6. Rai 7. Lords 8. Free 9. Parody 11.Tragedy 13. GRE 14. Oblast Down 1. Aeroflot 2. United 3. Sula 4. Burberry 5. Insead 9.

Press 10. Yemen 12. Rub

CurtainRaiser

@businessgoa

GIM all set to host WIZBIZ 2018 gim WizBiz 2017

WizBiz 2017 Winners – B Naveen Kumar from Sai Mitra Constructions and Jayakanthan from TCS

G

oa Institute of Management will be hosting its flagship event, the biggest corporate quiz organised by any b-school in India, ‘GIM WIZBIZ 2018’.

The national level corporate quiz that witnesses the brightest minds competing with each other every year to become the ultimate quizzing champions of the country promises to enthral once again.

This is the eighteenth edition of this marquee event which has grown bigger and better with every passing year.

Quizmaster Avinash Mudaliar, who has been associated with the event for the past 14 years will be back again this

WizBiz 2017 1st Runners up – Harshvardhan Bhatkuly and Rajiv D’Silva from Goa based Savoir Faire Media

year. Mudaliar has conducted over 1500 quizzes in the past 20 years and is also the quiz master of Asia’s biggest quizzing festival, ‘Under the Peepal Tree’.

GIM WIZBIZ 2017 was sponsored by corporates like Fomento Resources, Colorcon, and State Bank of India.

Last year, the first prize was bagged

by Jayakanthan (TCS) and B Naveen Kumar (Sai Mitra Construction). GIM WIZBIZ 2017 witnessed participation from companies such as Sai Mitra Constructions, Savoir Faire Media, Deloitte, TCS, Pepsi, Pidilite, Cognizant, Vedanta, Canara Bank, TATA Motors, etc.

This year, the prize money is a whopping `2 lakh.

GIM WIZBIZ has already created a brand recall for itself in the mind of quizzing aficionados through its unique and interesting format. Registrations for GIM WIZBIZ are open. Participants must be in a team of two

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ProfessionalDossier

@businessgoa

Perfect Accounting A

Satish R Dhume is a chartered accountant with a mission to render professional services of the highest standard to clients

By ANNA FERNANDES

leading practitioner of the chartered accountancy profession in the state, Satish Dhume has, over the past 40 years, built a strong reputation for excellence through his accounting firm Satish R Dhume & Co. Satish Dhume was among the first batch to graduate from S S Dempo College of Commerce & Economics in 1970 and venture into the highly-competitive field of chartered accountancy. At that time, thinking of pursuing a career in chartered accountancy, while not unheard of, was still a rarity in Goa. Under the tutelage of Borkar & Mazumdar, he obtained his degree in Chartered Accountancy in 1977. Dhume also holds a law degree, but chose to pursue a career as a Chartered Accountant, setting up his own practice.

Located in Panaji, Satish R Dhume & Co offers services in taxation, auditing, finance, accounting work and more. For over 40 years, their mission has been to render professional services of the highest standard to clients, upholding the code of conduct and ethics of the profession. Together, with the support of his daughter and son-in-law, Gauri and Kedar Kenkre who have been groomed in the profession and have their own separate practice, Satish Dhume has built a brand offering services backed up with years of credibility and trustworthiness.

Standing apart from other accounting firms, Satish R Dhume & Co prides itself in its transparency and sincerity. “We are very punctual in our operations. I don’t believe in tomorrow. I believe in finishing tomorrow’s work today. Our dedicated service and timely intervention has helped us earn a good name among our clients,” says Dhume, whose firm values the trust and beliefs vested in them by their clients and professional contacts, most of whom have been retained since inception. His staff too, shares this vision and strives to ensure the smooth running of the firm in providing a dedicated service with an honest and direct approach in all their dealings.

Chartered accountants contribute to the overall stability and progress of society. Dhume believes that chartered accountants should not lose sight of their purpose – the uncompromised support of the public interest. “Our profession is not only to guide people in their taxation issues – it’s more than that. We are also involved in charities, helping out with 40 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

Satish Dhume

“Goa needs to become an education hub.

Right now, Goa’s economic health is tied to mining, tourism and hospitality. We don’t have many IT firms, forcing our engineers to migrate to other cities in search of better opportunities.

We need to create opportunities right here in Goa” Satish R Dhume

temples and churches. It’s our way of giving back to society.”

As a career, chartered accountancy has evolved over the years. “With technology taking over, CA activities have also changed. Physical writing of books of accounts has been replaced by computers. Everything is computerized now.” The biggest challenge Satish Dhume faced was this shift to the digital world.

“Being not well-versed in computers has been my biggest weakness. But somehow, with the tremendous support of my staff, I am able to overcome this challenge.”

Advising youngsters wishing to pursue a career in chartered accountancy, he says, “Chartered accountancy is the core of all business, be it big or

small. It can be a very challenging, yet highly rewarding job. Career prospects after doing chartered accountancy are limitless. One just needs to be patient, dedicated and grounded. You cannot expect success the very next day; you have to be willing to work for it.”

Satish Dhume shares the same sentiment of the Prime Minister of the nation who stated that chartered accountants are a “big pillar” of the Indian economy. Chartered accountants play an integral role in society, and are instrumental in strengthening the economic health of the nation. Speaking about his vision for the state, Dhume states, “Goa needs to become an education hub. Right now, Goa’s economic health is tied to mining, tourism and hospitality.

We don’t have many IT firms, forcing our engineers to migrate to other cities in search of better opportunities. We need to create opportunities right here in Goa. We shouldn’t restrict ourselves; we need to diversify into more industries.”

As for the future, Dhume wishes to retire from the business in a few years and hand over control to his daughter who has been groomed in the practice.

He is certain that the firm will continue to grow and expand in their endeavour to exceed expectations. He also states that he wishes to devote his time to repaying society which has been kind to him, and focus on his hobbies such as Indian classical music and travelling

LadyPower

@businessgoa

“I work hard till I succeed” Vrushali Parsekar strikes a balance between being a successful businesswoman and satisfied homemaker

By ANNA FERNANDES

B

eing a woman in the predominantly male world of money management has never posed a problem for Vrushali Vivek Parsekar, who successfully manages a top-of-the-line financial advisory firm Happy Investments, located in Panjim.

It is not easy being one of Goa’s top independent sales and investment consultants and at the same time, be a dedicated homemaker with equal zeal. But Vrushali Vivek Parsekar has seamlessly merged the two roles to create a fulfilling story of holistic success. Her formal education peaked with a PG Diploma in Pathology, but Vrushali now ‘diagnoses’ and advises her clients on the fiscal aspects of life, right from insurance, investments to real estate and is now considered the gold standard in Goa, as far as professional excellence and customer satisfaction goes.

Vrushali’s transition from pathology to a profession in the financial sector can be credited to the fact that a career in finance was simply in her genes. “In 2002, I started as an HDFC Standard Life Consultant. I worked from home, until 2008, when I started my own firm, Happy Investments.” Happy Investments specializes in succession planning, wealth creation, mutual funds, insurance (life and general), pension, equity and real estate.

The brand name of her firm, suggested by her spiritual guru, epitomizes the kind of service provided by Vrushali and her team. Happy Investments offers a wide range of innovative investment solutions for investors and adheres to the strategic principles of rigorous risk control, process-orientation and superior research to support their investment decisions. With a long-term and disciplined investment approach that takes acceptable levels of risk backed by solid research, the firm aims to create, protect and grow the wealth of their investors, which ultimately leads to their happiness.“You have to make the right investments, to create wealth, and be happy,” she says.

Vrushali’s success is evident from the fact that she has been a Million Dollar Round Table member on 13 occasions, a Top of the Table performer once and has spent two years as Court of the Table, all over the last 14 42 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

Vrushali Parsekar

years. Moreover, her pursuit for self development, spiritual grooming and the urge to scale professional summits, is perhaps reflective of her other passion, trekking, which has taken her to Kulu-Manali, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, Gomukh in India and even to Alaska, USA. Her outstanding career has summoned her on professional calls to USA, UK, China, Switzerland, Istanbul, South Africa, Europe, South Africa and the UAE, where she was invited to deliberate in conferences and impart training and conduct sessions for both rising stars as well as masters of her trade.

She also successfully ventured into the realty sector, taking on the role of director of a real estate firm based in Mumbai that constructed villas in Pilerne.

Presently, she is director at Buildmore Infrastructures Pvt Ltd, overseeing the construction of commercial and residential buildings in Mapusa.

As a financial consultant, Vrushali believes that part of her success is encouraging others to succeed. “If you are good at something, you should share your experience with others. People should be able to use your experience and learn from it,” she says.

Citing passion as a key ingredient for her entrepreneurial success, Vrushali says, “Whatever I do, I do with all my heart. It’s about putting in 200%. When I have my mind set on something, I work hard until I succeed.” Vrushali’s efforts and continuous success has led to appreciative recognition from

Tony Gordon, a financial advisor and celebrated motivational speaker based in the UK, who said, “Congratulations on your success to date; it is nothing to what you can and will achieve in the future.”

With a constant move towards a gender balanced workforce, the professional ecosystem is evolving to realise the potential of women.

Never letting the fact the she’s a female entrepreneur in a predominantly male world faze her, she emphatically comments, “As a lady entrepreneur, I think my success can be tied to the fact that I never tried to compete with men or other women. I believed in my own ability as a woman. Women are strong, morally and emotionally.”

In today’s fast paced corporate world, prioritizing between home and work is a huge challenge. Striking a perfect balance between her personal and professional life, Vrushali maintains, “I believe I am a mother first, a wife next, and then a business woman. I am very clear on my priorities. I keep my business life and my personal life separate.”

Vrushali credits her success to her Guru Swami Anubhavanandaji who has always been her guide in navigating through her personal and professional life, her mother who “beautifully instilled” in her a sense of professionalism, her father whose value for money she inherited, and the constant love and support of her husband and children. Vrushali’s professional pursuits have always been less about making a quick buck; in her own words, “Making money is easy, making a name is difficult.” And sure enough, through her passionate spirit and hard work, Vrushali has made a name for herself in Goa’s financial sector.

Vrushali seamlessly juggles multiple roles in society, including being a working committee member of the women’s wing of the GCCI, ambassador of the BNI Regional Team, past-president of BNI Mandovi and Executive Coordinator for the Deccan Heritage Foundation, UK. In her spiritual pursuits, she is the coordinator for Sai Seva Trust, Goa Pradesh and organises spiritual lectures for Guru Swami Anubhavanandaji.

Vrushali has plans for expansion in the pipeline. Her immediate plans include setting up another office in Mapusa, and eventually continuing to explore her own passion and business acumen

Fashion

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Miss/Mr India International by Tito’s Finale 2018

Pics: Praveen Gaonkar, Abhijeet Parsekar and Pradeep Prabhu

David and Ricky de Souza with the winners Angelo Sandri and Dzhamilia Shakirova

T

he finale of Miss/Mr International

by Tito’s was celebrated on January 25. The 10 shortlisted contestants were groomed and trained by the very talented fashion director/fashion choreographer Shie Lobo for a week and the entire show was co-ordinated by Hema Nagvenkar (director of Hema Art and Fashion Company). Hair and makeup was done by the very versatile and talented Geeta Pawa, Shape and Shine design team.

The event was graced by the super talented jury of the fashion and hospitality industry from across the world at Tito’s Arena. On the panel of the jury were Ricardo and David DeSouza of Titos, Nandan Kudchadkar of LPK Waterfront, Bubbles (Bollywood actor), Dhiraj Amonkar (actor/model), Kornelia Santoro (writer/author), Rita Mody Joshi (Interior Designer), Vinanjay Jadhav (Kingfisher), Anastasia Gritsay (Colours of Goa, Editor), Harshvardhan Bhatkuly (Business Goa, Editor). Special invitee for the evening was Goa’s own Remo Fernandes.

The first round was the Swimwear

44 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

Round, followed by the first launch of exotic leather outfits designed

by Hema Nagvenkar under the brand name Label by RICARDO. The next round consisted of the Q&A Round during which contestants had to answer a few questions posed by the judges and the top five best answers were selected. Between the rounds, talented dancers from Charizma Entertainment put on a fire show and some lovely dances which enthralled the audience.

After a difficult discussion, the judges finally chose the Winner of Mr India International by Tito’s, Angelo Sandri from Italy and the Winner of Miss India International by Tito’s, Dzhamilia Shakirova from Russia. The First Runner up in the Men’s category was Trevon Dias (India) and the second runner up Siddharth Kerkar (India). In the Ladies category, the first runner up was Aishwariya Deonani (India) and the second Katrina Zvozdkina(Ukraine).

Contestants were also chosen from other sub titles like Miss Popular, Miss Congeniality, Miss Personality, Mr Best

Physique, Miss Body Beautiful and so on.

The Winner of Mr India International

by Tito’s won a KTM Sports bike and the Miss India International by Tito’s Winner went home with a lovely Kwid Car along with many exciting gift hampers and vouchers.

The male runners up were given laptops and a tab and ladies received scooters. The other contestants received vouchers worth `50,000 to spend at Tito’s property; they also walked away with Tito’s Merchandise and goodies from different sponsors.

Angelo Sandri, Mr India Internantional by Tito’s said, “All I know is that I put in the effort, gave my best in the talent round, had faith in myself and most importantly had fun.”

Dzhamilia Shakirova, Miss India International by Tito’s said, “I want to thank the whole Titos team, David and Ricardo, for the opportunity to participate in a show of this level. Hemа, for being our mentor, Shie for super choreography and mood. Thanks to all the guys and all the friends who prayed for me”

®

Café Real Pvt. Ltd. Real House Real Bottling factory Pvt. Ltd. Real Food Exporters Pvt. Ltd. Real Drinks Pvt. Ltd. ® Real Manik ® Reals Spaces (Culaba Mumbai) Agency Real (Trading & Marketing, Panaji, Mapusa, Margao, Vasco, Ponda, Cancona, Curchorem)

Real Group of Companies has been Awarded as ‘Best Home Grown Business of Goa’ by BNI at Biz Fest Convention.

A Very Special Thank to all the People of Goa

Events

www.businessgoa.in

Pic: Ravi Kambh

Goa Biz Fest 2018

Goa CM Parrikar, Shrinivas Dempo, Rohan Khaunte compliment BNI and GEMS Trust for their role in driving employability and boosting business in Goa

(L) Narayan Bandekar, chairman, NRB Group being bestowed with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the hands of the Manohar Parrikar. Also seen in photo is Rajkumar Kamat, BNI Goa Region executive director; (R) Rajkumar Kamat, Manoj Patil, Ajay Chaudhary, InfoTech Minister Rohan Khaunte, Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant, Norm Dominguez, Rasik Naik and others at the inauguration.

Pic: Ravi Kambhoj

W

ith as many as 292 job-seeking Goan candidates getting shortlisted by 76 companies, the threeday Goa BizFest (GBF) 2018, arguably Goa’s largest business convention to date, achieved its prime objective in style.

Held at the S P Mukherjee stadium, the GBF which was jointly organiz+ed by the BNI (Business Network International) Goa Region and GEMS (Goa Entrepreneurship Mentoring Services) Trust in association with the Government of Goa and the NRB Group was a resounding success.

Among the many busy verticals at work at the GBF, the job and career fair was understandably the cynosure of all eyes. Almost two thousand job-seeking, young Goan candidates flocked to the 76 stalls run by

Shrinivas Dempo, chairman, Dempo Group of companies delivering the valedictory speech at the Goa Biz Fest 2018

companies during the three-day GBF bore testimony to this fact (see complete statistical table below). Very relevant footsteps for a B2B connection at the stalls was another highlight.

The three-day fest which attracted both political and business leaders saw them praise the efforts put in by BNI and GEMS in helping drive the state’s employment and business agenda so vigorously. State IT and Revenue

Minister, Rohan Khaunte speaking at the inaugural session said, “I compliment the Goa BizFest for focussing on skill set development and employability.”

Enthused by the positive energy prevalent at the event, Khaunte even promised to announce the state IT policy by end March 2018.

According to Khaunte, the state IT policy would focus on key features like reimbursement policy on leases,

I)GOA BizFest 2018 a statistical overview The three day GBF was a resounding success as these figures will testify…

• Total registrations: 4,273 • Total attendees at Job Fair: 1,717 • Total shortlisted candidates: 292 • Total attendees @Biz Expo: 2,124 • Total attendees @ Knowledge

Summit: 863 • Total attendees @ Start-Up

Conclave: 715 II) Trade Stalls at Goa BizFest attracted over 2,000 visitors.

The 100 plus trade stalls displaying multiple brands in the lifestyle, interiors and exteriors, construction, tourism and technology industries attracted over a 2,000 visitors over the three days.

III) Life-time achievement award for Narayan Bandekar Narayan Bandekar, chairman of the NRB Group was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award instituted by the Goa BizFest at the hands of the Chief Minister.

Expressing his happiness on receiving the award, Bandekar said, “I hope my award encourages young entrepreneurs to work hard and succeed.”

IV) GEMS Young Entrepreneur Awards presented to SIX game-changers Avelino De Sa, President of DRAG (GEMS Special Recognition Award), Prajyot Mainkar of Androcid Media (GEMS Trailblazer Award), Suprajit P Raiker of Raikar & Co (GEMS Rural Entrepreneur Award), Pratibha Sawant of Buoyancy Consultants and Engineering (Prashant Shinde Award for Employment Generation), Farheen Sayed of Boxifer (Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2018) and Ashutosh Kharangate of Mangal Advisory Research and Consulting (Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2018) were presented with the GEMS Young entrepreneur awards at the GBF 2018.

(See group picture)

46 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

V)Startup conclave Organizers received more than 207 applications for a funding requirement of `81 crore from startups. Having ignited the spark, the GEMS team expects more than 100 attendees out of 715 to take concrete steps to start their enterprises with help from GEMS.

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reimbursement policy on internet and reimbursement policy for freshers.

Likewise, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who for the first time was interviewed with regard to his vision for Goa, also announced that there would be zero pendency before the Investment Promotion Board by end March. Parrikar said, “The proposal clearance has gathered speed and there will be zero pendency at the IPB.” Addressing the concerns over employment for local youth at the proposed Mopa International airport, Parrikar said that special training programmes would be initiated at the polytechnics at Tuem and Bicholim to facilitate their employment at the airport in a variety of jobs.

Praise for the organizers also came from the world of business. Speaking at the valedictory function of the event, Shrinivas Dempo, chairman of Dempo Group complimented both BNI and GEMS and said the passion with which BNI members networked with each other and the business world was commendable. “Passion fuels ideas and

Winners of the GEMS Awards pose with organizers of Goa Biz Fest

ideas drive business,” Dempo said.

Padma Bhushan Ajai Chowdhary on ‘Entrepreneurship’, Prof. Varun Sahni on ‘Emerging Technologies’, Arch Ankit Chugh on ‘Smart Cities’, Dr. G C Mishra on ‘Safe Goa’, Gaurav Singhvi on ‘Business Beyond Boundaries’, Ajay Thakur, President BSE-SME Exchange on ‘Scaling up Businesses’ were some of the keynote speakers for various sessions. Nitin Kunkolienker – President MAIT, Manguirish Raiker, Chairman SME council ASSOCHAM also guided

entrepreneursand& moderated panel discussions.

It was pertinent to see GTA, GCCI, GSIA, IIA, CREDAI, TTAG, IGBC, FSAI and other industry organisations supporting these efforts.

Norm Dominguez, vice chairman Emeritus of BNI Global who was extremely impressed with bringing together of industry / government / Academia and youth during the international networking week has offered to support GEMS activities

Indian Oil wins Tangentia Jigyasa Quiz 2018

T

he Tangentia Jigyasa Quiz 2018, held recently, featured 40 teams from all over India including Sai Mitra Constructions from Hyderabad who were the reigning champions and also winners at multiple national quizzing competitions.

Top teams from colleges like NIT Goa, BITS Goa, IIT Bombay, IIT Goa and corporates including HDFC Life, Business Goa, Deloitte Novartis, 91 Springboard, Yorokobi Technologies, Indian Oil and many more participated.

After a gruelling preliminary round, corporate teams representing HDFC Life, Sai Mitra Constructions Yorokobi Technologies, Indian Oil, Novartis and the college team from NIT Goa made it to the final.

In the seven-round final, including a buzzer and bidding round which needed contestants to bid for the right to answer a question, Deepak Taneja and Cherian

L to R: Tangentia’s Vijay Thomas, Indian Oil’s Deepak Taneja and Cherian Varghese, Goa Chamber President Sandip Bhandare and InfoTech Minister Rohan Khaunte

Varghese representing Indian Oil Corporation won the first place for `1,00,000. In second place was B Naveen Kumar and Jayakanthan R representing Sai Mitra Constructions who won `50,000; the third place prize of `25,000 was won by Francis Rodrigues and Rohan Khanna representing HDFC Life.

Chief Guest Revenue and IT Minister Rohan Khaunte congratulated the winners and expressed hope of more teams from Goa participating.

Founder and Managing Partner of Tangentia, Vijay Thomas, spoke to Business Goa about the Tangentia Jigyasa Quiz Tell us something about Tangentia…

Tangentia is the leader in Global Boutique Technology Solutions with a ‘Think Global, Act Local’ delivery model with offices in USA, Canada and India.

What made you

Guest of Honour Sandip Bhandare, president of Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) presented the winners with the trophy. Quiz Master Vijay Thomas, who is also the Managing Partner of Tangentia Inc, said that 2019 would be bigger with quizzes in multiple cities culminating with the finals in Goa think about Jigyasa?

Jigyasa was the name of an email quiz group that I started in Chennai in the year 1999 when I was working at Satyam Computer Services. It got quite popular with more than 10,000 subscribers and we also conducted many quizzes in Chennai, including starting the first Madras Management Association quiz which continues even today

vijay thomas

Managing Partner, Tangentia FEBRUARY 2018 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 47

BizBytes

@businessgoa

Seminar on ‘Google Cloud Platform’ held at CIBA Verna CIBA (Centre for Incubation and Business Acceleration) Verna, in association with Google India, organized a seminar on ‘Google Cloud Platform’ for the startups and techno-preneurs of Goa on January 24, 2018.

The session was conducted by K C Ayyagari, Program Manager at Google Cloud Startup Ecosystem. The

Google Cloud Workshop conducted by K C Ayyagari.

participants were sensitized about the cloud services by

Audi Q5 launched in Goa

Google and how Startups could implement it to scale-

up and take their business to greater heights.

A one-on-one session was conducted with interested startups. The eligible startups will be provided credits worth 3000 USD through the Startup Program.

Google has partnered with CIBA for the Google Cloud Startup Program

CII Goa’s conference on Marine Tourism

L to R: R Adm Shekhar Mittal, Prof. Sutheeshna Babu, Atreya Sawant, Fabiomassimo Discoli and Roshan Kumar

Dnyanesh Hadkar, CEO - Audi Goa seen along with Ms. Vibhu Muppana, Director Audi Goa at the unveiling of Audi Q5(1)

Audi Goa launched the most awaited second generation Audi Q5 in Goa. The Audi Q5 combines the sportiness of an Audi sedan with a multifaceted character and a highly intuitive interior.

Whether it is connectivity, efficiency or driver assistance systems, the new Audi Q5 once again sets standards in its segment.

With the all-wheel drive quatro system, a highly efficient engine, a suspension with damper control and a comprehensive line-up of infotainment systems, the new Audi Q5 proves to be the perfect vehicle in its segment.

The new Audi Q5 is priced at INR 57,60,000.

“The year 2018 will be the year of progression and the launch of the all new Audi Q5 is the perfect example of

this. The first Audi Q5 was, for many years, the world’s best-selling model in its class and with the all new Q5, we are setting the bar a notch higher. With a lighter body, whole new design language and host of new infotainment and innovative features, the all new Audi Q5 is the best vehicle available for our customers who want to enjoy driving whether it is on or off the road,” said Rahil Ansari, Head, Audi India.

“Since its market introduction in 2009 in India, the Audi Q5 has won many hearts and has continued to be the favourite amongst our customers. The new Audi Q5 with its agile and efficient performance will definitely give an exhilarating driving experience to our customers,” added Ansari

read the voice of business in goa 48 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organized Conference on Marine Tourism: The India Opportunity today in Goa. Atreya Sawant, Chairman, CII Goa State Council, at his opening remark, said Marine Tourism should be practised in a sustainable way and that is our continuing mission in this sector. The marine tourism industry in Goa comprises of water sports, pleasure boat cruises for picnics, SCUBA diving, snorkeling, line fishing and dolphin watching.

Diving is largely centered on the coral reefs present at Grande island, Vasco as are picnic cruises, while dolphin watching takes place mainly at Sinquerim bay, Aguada, with boats plying from four registered jetties and from different beaches.

Prof. Sutheeshna Babu, National Institute of Watersports, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India said Watersports is increasing its reach in India and specially in Goa which is known for leisure and adventure tourism.

R.Adm Shekhar Mittal, Vice-Chairman, CII Goa

State Council and Chairman & Managing Director, Goa Shipyard Ltd said being a key destination for domestic as well international tourists, significant potential for development of Marine tourism exists in Goa and with improving infrastructure and visibility, the western coast of India is being considered by overseas sailors as a sailing and yachting destination.

Responding to this increased market attractiveness, several government entities and private investors have initiated plans to develop suitable infrastructure facilities such as marinas and cruise terminals. He also added that CII will come out with a white paper on Marine Tourism in consultation with all the stakeholders which can be represented to government.

During the Panel discussion on Global Trends in Marine Tourism and Opportunities for India it was highlighted Sustainable development of Goa’s inland waterways. These extensive water ways have served as Goa’s trade and commerce lifelines for centuries www.businessgoa.in

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V M Salgaocar Hospital organises CME on World Cancer Day

To observe World Cancer Day, V. M. Salgaocar Hospital organized a Continuing Medical Education (CME) programme on Breast Cancer for the Indian Medical Association, Mormugao Branch on February 2.

The first speaker of the evening was Dr Anupama Borkar who had specially flown in from Mumbai. Dr Borkar is a Senior Consultant (Medical and Paediatric Oncology) at several leading hospitals in Mumbai and is available for consultation every first and third Sunday at V. M. Salgaocar Hospital.

The second speaker was Dr Jean Louis Menezes,

Dr Prabhav Desai, Dr Jean Menezes, Dr Shradha Patil, Dr Anupama Borkar.

Surgical Oncologist, who regularly performs surgeries at V. M. Salgaocar Hospital.

Dr Borkar made a presentation on management of breast cancer. She explained

Tatva Salon & Spa opens its new branch a Season’s Hotel Fatorda, Margao

the merits of each of the existing treatment modalities and their management. She also spoke at length about new drugs and the latest treatments available for breast

Art without boundaries

Jyoti Mehta

Tatva Salon & Spa, Margao branch inaugurated in the presence of Vijay Sardesai, Dr Babita Prabhudesai and Fr Mansueto Fernandes

Tatva Salon & Spa has been the proud recipient of a number of awards – the ‘Wellness Brand of Goa’ by Business Goa, and the Best Spa-North Goa by Goan Hospitality 2016 & 2017.

Now, the celebrated family Salon & Spa chain in Goa founded by Asha Arondekar takes pride in adding another feather to its cap.

Tatva Salon & Spa proudly opened its Margao branch at Season’s Hotel, Fatorda, Margao in the presence of Town and Country Planning Minister Vijay Sardesai, Chairperson of Margao Municipal Council Dr Babita Angle Prabhudesai

and Fr Mansueto Fernandes, parochial administrator of Rosary Church, Fatorda.

Fatorda is a fast growing suburb of Margao, and Tatva is also situated next to the Fatorda stadium, catering not only to the local population, but also the visiting sports fraternity.

This is Tatva’s twelfth outlet. With four standalones and eight hotel spas, Tatva is undoubtedly the largest and the most preferred family spa chain in Goa. After covering Goa, Tatva now has plans to venture into other cities in the coming years www.businessgoa.in

50 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

cancer and their clinical outcomes.

Dr Menezes impressed upon the doctors present the need to counsel a patient about breast conserving surgery, also called mastectomy, and the expected outcome.

He spoke about breast reconstruction methods and urged the doctors to reassure the patients that there is a solution available.

Participants at this CME programme included physicians, general practitioners, gynaecologists, ENT specialists, paediatricians, surgeons and medical officers from corporates

Manjunaath Naik

Creativity knows no bounds.

Art, in its purest form, explores the notion that through creative expression, each artist’s work unifies and transcends borders.

With this aim in mind, art promoter Swetlana Cardoso curated a group exhibition of young contemporary artists in Goa that was inaugurated at Art Gallery, Directorate of Art and Culture, Panaji, Goa. The exhibition will open till February 14.

The exhibition aims to

Nirupa Naik

Nandini Raikar

portray art in its truest form.

There was no theme for this show. The artists freely expressed themselves through their paintings, drawings and prints.

The exhibition features works of art by contemporary Goan artists – Norman Tagore, Shripad Gurav, Nirupa Naik, Manjunaath Naik, Nandini Raikar, and Jyoti Mehta, all of whom are strongly rooted in their originality and creative expression

Norman Tagore

Shripad Gurav

people tree / kishore m shah

PIT-CREW! The columnist highlights the importance of social support systems in our daily lives by drawing a parallel to pit crews in Formula One races

A

boy comes home from school with a big smile. Seeing him dance merrily, the father asks, “Well son, you look very happy, so you like school?” The child replies, “Don’t be silly, Pa. We mustn’t confuse the going with the coming.”

A visible and significant social trend I have been closely observing is the inversely proportionate engagement/ participation of family/society in school events/celebrations and the age of the child. The trend goes something like this – when the child is in the preprimary section, there is overwhelming involvement not only from parents, but even grandparents! They all join in almost all school events and activities. As one progresses to primary, the grandparents’ participation drops and only one parent is involved, usually in a hasty manner.

As a child enters secondary school, it is unusual to find even one parent getting involved. And in junior college, it is a rarity but the demand on performance increases exponentially along with the initiation of a blame game.

I see this in almost all walks of life – be it corporate, government, institutions, schools, NGOs – the social adaptability is lagging way behind technological innovations, which are becoming the way of life. Expectations are soaring higher and higher coupled with speed, impacting even our day-to-day routine, creating emotional unrest, irreversible addiction to social media, government and citizens inability to cope with socio-economic interventions, growing contractual mentality in organizations, performance stress levels, lifestyle diseases; the list goes on.

The reason for this could be explained using the graph depicted here.

As the graph illustrates, from 1984 onwards, we started embracing technology. There was a sudden surge through the LPG effect in 1990 (and later through IOT), but not much thought, time, and investment was given for social research to adapt to such exponential technological invasions. There was a need to consider that we are a diverse country with a legacy of complicated value and belief systems. Our governance, legal systems, regulatory systems simply could not catch up with the emerging tech scenarios. We relied heavily on “leaders” in the government and corporate sectors

52 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

government functioning, and so on, when I came across an article on Formula One racing. What struck me most was the ‘pit crew’.

Today, the competition is for speed. It has moved from hyper to insane. In that context, we now have to compete not only with fellow humans, but also Artificial intelligence (AI) to wave some magic wand to diffuse situations. We had no option but to ape technology as we were running out of time to catch up with global competition.

But our social systems have not caught up with the rest of the world, which is why we can observe skewed growth and development in the country.

For unknown reasons, we are nowhere close to ‘ideals’ like “efficiency”, “effectiveness” and “optimisation”. We still prefer the ‘jugaad’ way; we now have several levels of jugaad in almost all walks of life. It is a pity that even today only crisis awakens the genius in us and that, too, is momentary. We will definitely use bullet trains, but potholes will continue to plague us.

Today, the competition is for speed. It has moved from hyper to insane. In that context, we now have to compete not only with fellow humans, but also Artificial Intelligence (AI) (refer to the graph)!

On the other hand, our old social order, systems, concepts and fundamentals are either crippling down or becoming rapidly obsolete.

We are in dire need of creating “Smarter, Swifter, Superior” social adaptations. I was looking for a metaphor to better explain how we create social support systems which can run together or even ahead of technology moving from ‘AI’ to IA’ (Intelligent Assistance) in our personal lives, schools, organizations,

What is ‘pit crew’ and what is their role in F1?

The pit stop crew usually comprises of the driver’s team mechanics. No member specialises in a certain role during a pit stop. There are over 15-20 members of a F1 team present during a pit stop. They all need to work together and at an almost robotic level of efficiency if they are to service a car in 8-9 seconds!

The duties are typically given based on their physical attributes rather than their ability to do a specific job, as the members would be able to handle the pressure of any role given to them. Tyre men tend to be more agile in order to quickly change the car’s wheels while the jack men are required to be more physical so they have the strength to lift the car under intense pressure. The only permanent role is the lollipop man, who is the chief mechanic.

They stand near the front of the car and oversee the whole procedure while also operating the controls, releasing the car once the pit crew completes the stop.

While drivers and engine manufacturers take home most of the praise and accountability for wins in F1, the pit crew is usually the component of the team that bears the blame for most of the inopportune events that might occur on and off the track. The crew plays a much greater role in the outcome of a team’s race now, given the limited overtaking opportunities that have arisen from the budget disparity amongst Formula One teams.

Pit crew is an apt analogy for taking on the bull by the horns in the current scenario. Formula 1 shows us that to be successful or even complete a race, three components are needed: - Technology - Drive - Pit crew We have the first two components almost in place but the third component, pit crew, is clearly an area to be focussed on and built.

One can easily create such pit crew social support systems through 1) PTA in schools

SAY HELLO TO THE VOICE OF STARTUPS

2) HR departments in organizations 3) Educational institutes 4) NGOs in the socioeconomic sector 5) Retired bureaucrats in the government sector There is no dearth of resources in our country.

What we need is pit crew resourcefulness. I recollect a famous standoff dialogue from the Hindi mega blockbuster movie Deewar where Amitabh Bachchan challenges Shashi Kapoor saying, “Mere pass dhan hai, daulat hai...tere pass kya hai?”

Shashi Kapoor replied, “Mere pass Maa hai”. MAA could also stand for Motivation, Ability and Attitude”. That is the essence of a pit crew.

If we quickly build on this concept, we will be able to bridge the gap and make our social systems Swifter, Smarter and Superior, complementing technology and not antagonising it The writer is an organisational development and talent analytics consultant. He is also the founder sponsor of Goa CSR Awards. He is the recipient of Limca Book of Records and Business Goa Award. Email: shahkishorem@gmail.com

India’s newest print magazine provides a ringside view of the startup ecosystem. Read the voice of startups. Read Startup Nation. www.startupnationnews.com

FEBRUARY 2018 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 53

beyond classroom / dr pradeep b salgaonkar

Modern Marketing Techniques The columnist draws focus to modern marketing techniques best suited for the success of your business

O

ut of the five Ms of a business – Money, Men, Materials, Machines and Marketing, it is believed that the only function which brings in money for the business is marketing. The remaining functions incur expenses.

Thus, marketing what is produced by the business organization is a critical activity for profitability and needs to be effectively managed to ensure sustainability. A business organization exists because there is a customer to buy and consume its produce, and to satisfy and delight the customer, by providing quality products, safe products, cheap products and solutions to customers’ problems. Businesses need to appropriately market to the right customers with the help of appropriate marketing techniques.

There are a host of marketing techniques one comes across everywhere. However, understanding which technique fits which product and which technique will provide better results is important and the marketing technique, or a mix of them, needs to be chosen adroitly by businesses.

There are a host of definitions and explanations of marketing. Marketing is “a set of processes that are interconnected and interdependent with other functions of a business aimed at achieving customer interest and satisfaction”.

Marketing is “Creating needs and fulfilling needs, leaving customers happy and satisfied”. Marketing is “Providing value for customers’ money”. Marketing is “Identifying customer needs and problems and providing solutions for customers’ problems”. However the harsh reality of marketing, in majority cases, could be stated as “Marketing is legally and openly tricking customers by creating needs and giving them products to fulfill these needs, giving a feeling of satisfaction, need fulfillment, value for money and better life quality”. There is nothing wrong with this, so far as it is legally approved and fulfills customers’ needs and creates value for customers.

Needs are created by marketers by simply making customers uncomfortable, by creating a feeling of uneasiness, a feeling that you are missing out on something, that you are being left behind.

For example, a hair oil or a shampoo or conditioner marketing campaign will make the customer conscious about falling hair, or splits in hair, or dandruff, making people restless. A fairness cream ad makes people conscious of their skin colour and leads them to believe that ‘fair is beautiful’, while ignoring those of darker hues. A mobile phone campaign will speak of all the advanced features in a particular phone which people have and how they succeed faster whereas you cannot cope or compete because your phone and its technology is outdated. All these campaigns make people conscious of what they don’t have and put them at a discomfort, making them purchase and consume these products, even if in reality they may actually not require them. However, that’s not sufficient for long term growth and sustainability.

Businesses need to do much more with regard to marketing and customer engagement.

Modern day customer The modern day customer is one who has surplus money and high spending power, but is time-starved. S/he is living a fast-paced lifestyle – everything instant, right from instant noodles, instant coffee to instant relationships and instant breakups. S/he is educated, empowered, informed, inquisitive and demanding.

The customer says “I want it right now” and “I want it the way I like it”. Plus

“It should be good for me” and “It should be good for the planet too”. They want instant value and gratification with long term benefits.

Transparency, safety, privacy and truthfulness are what they look out for in every product. The customer mindset is no longer limited to only being satisfied by consuming the core product, the peripheral product, or the augmented product.

They expect marketers to offer more than that, different and better every time – the potential product. S/he is hooked on to the smartphone and is ‘App-ified’. The customer is very unstable when it comes to choosing products and the channel, often shuttling between online and offline shopping. Additionally, the modern customer has consumeristic activism. S/he voices concerns and complains easily over any issue where they feel value is compromised by the provider.

Modern Marketing Techniques For all businesses and specifically for the MSME sector, marketing has always remained a big challenge. Customer satisfaction is an old goal. Merely satisfying customers will not make a business competitive. Customer delight and engagement has become the truth of the day. Every interaction should make the customer feel delighted and repeated episodes of delight will engage customers with your products and business. Here are a few marketing techniques to succeed in the modern era: (a) Practice customer engagement by incorporating storytelling in your marketing campaigns. Tell stories about your roots, origin, culture, employee stories, success stories, contribution to society, etc. Tell stories of the people who contribute to make your products, like farmers, their children and your support in their upliftment, the CSR activities you undertake, etc. This makes customers subtly believe in you and your products. (b) Create relationships based on faith and trust. This is a long and continuous process, so persevere and have patience.

Build trust by being genuine, transparent, truthful and caring. Make customers believe in you and your brand by delivering what you promise, doing

The writer is a professor of marketing, corporate trainer and founder, SALDOTS Academy; and Chairman, Goa Management Association.Email: pradeepsalgaonkar@gmail.com 54 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

@businessgoa

what you say and being available to the customer all the time. (c) Attempt localization of products and offerings. India is a country of many countries, with every state, every district being different from the others.

With every 100 km distance, the culture, traditions, practices, lifestyles change and, thus, the consumption patterns, consumer behaviour and expectations differ, posing a great challenge to marketers. The way out is attempting to offer products and offerings that would suit the locality. Marketers need to work out different strategies for different localities. (d) Online marketing is the most important technique today and is the order of the future. Marketing by way of company websites, social media, use of Apps, YouTube videos, live video streaming etc are some of the most preferred ways of marketing. (e) Research has shown that the most preferred, single marketing activity by most businesses, which they think will make the largest commercial impact for their business, is content marketing.

WhatsApp is widely used by many individuals to market their services via

broadcast groups. Blogs are another powerful medium for content marketing.

With self-driving cars expected to hit the roads in a few years, the in-car content consumption will increase thus giving marketers’ newer challenges. (f) Account-based marketing is another concept. Try personalization by catering to individual customers. Understand each customer and manage them separately. With the amount of customer data available to businesses engaged in online marketing, if utilized properly, it’s not difficult to practice account-based marketing irrespective of the number of customer accounts you are catering to. (g) Influencer marketing is the process of identifying, engaging and pampering those people who create the conversations that impact your products and brand.

These people are very active on social media and have a huge following; their opinion matters. Thus, finding and promoting to them helps as they work as influencers for your brand. (h) Affiliate marketing works by providing incentives to promote your product online. Just like referral marketing in the offline mode, giving incentives to get customers, affiliate marketing works in

the online domain. (i) AI powered marketing and customer associates are part of the future trend.

Artificial Intelligence is here to stay and that’s indispensable in running businesses and in customer management. All tasks in marketing that are repetitive in nature and all analytical jobs will be taken over by machines. However, AI will not fully replace the human element in customer management. A smart combination of human and AI machine is the future of customer management and marketing.

Every business, especially the MSME sector, should look at the relevance of its product/service offering to the market – what the customer wants today and what they will need tomorrow based on the changes in technology. If need be, change before change changes you.

Innovate continuously to fulfill customer needs and create newer needs. Look at your customers’ LTV and get into account-based marketing. Adopt and upgrade with changing technology. It’s a misconception that online marketing is a waste. Invest in it. Change your mindset and adopt a strategic mix of the modern marketing techniques that suits and works for your business

FEBRUARY 2018 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 55

HR MANTRA / R N Misra

Reasonable opportunity fundamental in disciplinary enquiry The columnist stresses that respondents be given reasonable opportunity to defend themselves in disciplinary inquiries

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aintenance of industrial discipline forms the core essence of a Business Excellence Model. Very often, it is observed that employees / workmen of industrial establishments do not adhere to the prescribed rules concerning discipline, are guilty of misconduct(s) and become liable for punishment in pursuance to the provisions of the Standing Orders of the establishment or the Model Standing Orders, as prescribed under the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946.

To maintain discipline and also to convey an exemplary message to others, disciplinary action is initiated against such employee(s) alleged to have committed the ‘misconduct’. While conducting disciplinary action, the very essence of such action revolves around the ‘Principles of Natural Justice’, which require that… no person should be punished or condemned without giving reasonable opportunity to defend him/her. There has been a catena of judgements pronounced by High Courts and the Supreme Court of India laying down the procedure to conduct domestic enquiries on the point of observance of the ‘Principals of Natural Justice’. In fact, such procedures have been laid down as early as 1965 by the Supreme Court of India in the case of Sur Enamel and Stamping Works Ltd vs their workmen, reported in 1963 (LLJ 367 SC) defining the rules of ‘natural justice’. Along with others, such rules mention that the employee is given a fair opportunity to defend him/ her in the relevant enquiry.

In a recent judgement, the Supreme Court of India reiterated the said principle/rule in the case of Bilaspur Raipur Kshetriya Gramin Bank and another Vs Madanlal Tandan reported vide 2015 (146) FLR 606. In this case, the appellants preferred the appeal against the judgement / order passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Chhattisgarh.

The brief background of this case relates to the fact that the respondent moved the High Court contesting, along with others, that there was no list of documents and list of witnesses supplied to him and, as such, the respondent was not afforded an opportunity to put forward his case in response to the show

cause notice along with the charge-sheet.

Observing that the rules of natural justice are meant to ensure that a government servant is treated fairly in the proceedings, which may culminate in imposition of punishment, including dismissal / removal from service, the Learned Single Judge of the High court quashed the order of removal passed by the appellant

The brief background of this case relates to the fact that the respondent moved the High Court contesting that there was no list of documents and list of witnesses supplied to him and, as such, the respondent was not afforded an opportunity to put forward his case in response to the show cause notice along with the charge-sheet and allowed the writ petition of the respondent with consequential benefits.

Aggrieved by the aforesaid decision, the appellants preferred a writ appeal before the Division Bench of the High Court. The Division Bench of the High Court opined that when a delinquent employee is facing proceedings, he is entitled to a ‘reasonable opportunity’ to meet the charges against him in an effective manner. The Bench further observed that since the relevant documents were not supplied to the concerned employee, it would be difficult for him to prepare his defence and to cross-examine the witnesses and point out inconsistencies with a view to show that allegations were false or baseless. The Bench further observed that neither the list of witnesses nor the list of documents was supplied along with the chargesheet. During the course of enquiry some documents were supplied to him, but documents proving the charges were not put forth. Hence, by way of impugned judgement, the Division Bench of the High Court awarded a lump-sum payment in favour of the respondent with all other consequential benefits.

The only issue the Supreme Court had to consider was whether the documents – based on which the charges were levelled against the respondent – were provided to him or not. The Supreme Court concluded that some relevant documents, on the basis of which findings were recorded, were not made available to the respondent and the list of documents and witness was not supplied to him in advance. Therefore, the Supreme Court affirmed the judgement of the Division Bench and, relying on its previous judgements, observed that “punishment cannot be sustained under the law”.

Accordingly, the relief granted by the Division Bench was affirmed to meet the ends of justice.

It is often observed that a chargesheet/ show cause/ letter of explanation, as the case may be, is issued to a delinquent employee without clearly stipulating the charges levelled against him and without supplying the necessary documents / list of witnesses prior to conducting a domestic enquiry. But, during the enquiry, several documents are relied upon by the management along with several witnesses to support the charge against the delinquent employee.

The Enquiry Officer ultimately proves the allegation against the delinquent employee culminating in the discharge/ dismissal of the employee. The said employee challenges such orders before the industrial adjudicator, alleging violation of ‘principals of natural justice’, contending that the enquiry has been conducted ‘in an unfair and improper manner’. As a natural consequence, the industrial adjudicator upholds the plea and the delinquent employee secures relief in his favour. It is, therefore, suggested that the Disciplinary Authority must ensure that not only the ‘natural justice’ should appear to be extended, but it is truly so and revealed from the enquiry proceedings, to avoid any embarrassment in court Case cited: Bilaspur Raipur Khetriya Gramin Bank and another Vrs. Madanlal Tandan, reported vide 2015 (146) FLR 606 read your digital copy oN

The writer is a visiting faculty to many B-Schools. He is a professional trainer in many PSUs and private sector industries. Email: rnmisra@tatasteel.com 56 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

corporate citizen / Daniel Albuquerque

AI in Business Enterprise

Artificial Intelligence is a powerful and influential tool. Not capitalizing on its benefits would mean missing the bus in the journey of economic development

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ay back in October 2016, for this very magazine, Jay Dehejia wrote a piece called ‘Artificial intelligence & future in the workplace’. The purpose of this article is not to highlight the creations and manufacture of robots, but to underline the importance of AI program applications in business enterprise.

There is a huge concern among Indian techies about India lagging behind in AI vis-à-vis China. That is not misplaced.

Global research institutions are estimating an addition of USD 15 trillion to the world GDP in the coming decade, most of it is credited to the US and China.

For India, having had the advantage of IT leadership in the world, to miss the AI benefit as natural progression, is to miss the bus in the middle of the journey of economic development.

The Chinese multinational giant Baidu is a case in AI. On New Year’s Day in 2000, Robin Li founded the company that operated from a hotel room in Beijing.

Today, this multinational, multibillion company employs over 45,000 people and is considered a formidable global leader in AI services and products. The worry for India Inc is not just one Baidu, but scores of new start-ups that dot the map of China and their worldwide spread.

Why is AI a game changer? Thus far, IT has consisted of logic-based software; it works for you, just like any other technology, and performs tasks predictably. AI, on the other hand, goes further to partner you in training, decision-making and learning from experience. AI-based systems support decision-making, helping precision, consistency and operational ease in enterprise. AI can cover all areas of business such as sales and marketing, customer acquisition and retention, supply chain management, logistics and data mining. AI has been used in manufacturing for a long time, particularly in motor vehicle production lines.

Sundar Pichai, Google’s Indian-born CEO who is very popular worldwide and in a special way among the youth of India, has plans. The company is on a mission to aid and assist Indian AI startups which are coming up with problemsolving applications such as analysing medical data, imaging, visual data,

AI is a powerful tool to engage customers in business. Industry and their businesses have, therefore, no excuse not to adopt AI. It delivers solutions to relate to customers and win their loyalty. The AI potential is as influential and powerful as one can imagine tourism and even culinary undertaking.

‘LaunchPad’ is a company specially formed for the purpose. Not to be left behind, the indigenous e-commerce giant Flipkart has already introduced AI operations from conversation search to visual similarity, from better last-mile delivery to fraud-detection and several warehousing solutions.

For the moment, the Indian startups seem to be purposeful. Some examples: a) Absentia VR’s Norah.ai – empowered workflow for generating games; b) Niki. ai – shopping assistant; c) Flutura – industrial data solutions; d) Uncanny Vision – surveillance solutions; e) Formcept – unified data analysis. The fact that these companies are based in Bengaluru demonstrates that it is naturally evolving into India’s AI capital.

The two big hurdles in India’s AI progress are the Government of India and the industry. Just as India’s large population depends on the government for ‘ration’, Indian entrepreneurs wait for government subsidies, tax holidays and ‘special packages’. The government, of course, almost always lags behind in its duty to form, firstly a policy and secondly it puts up several hurdles for ‘project clearance.’

While billions upon billions are spent on AI in the US and China, India has been able to merely cross about USD 100 million only. In truth, Indian industry does not require a special flagging off of policy on AI except some budgetary incentives to accelerate the rate and confidence of investment. Experts estimate that if Indian investors go ahead even reasonably, in the next five years they could add business of over USD 15 billion to the country’s GDP. These days, we think only of USA

and China as our rivals, but in the West, the European countries and Japan and Australia, the Eastern giants are conveniently forgotten. So often we are fascinated by Japanese robots that perform scores of human tasks from automation to voice and face recognition, from being employed in households to the massive car assembly lines. It has become a way of life as AI exhibitions and fairs are commonplace. Although Japan invests more in robots’ hardware, the AI applications in all fields of business are thriving too. What we can learn from the Japanese is that investment in AI research and education must be paramount to be a business leader.

Healthcare, education, motor vehicles, banking, retail, agriculture, security, communication, leisure, entertainment and dozens more are the areas of AI application. Indian industry is economically strong enough to invest and drive AI. India Inc has always thrived on cutting costs and innovation. With the Digital India drive, industry can depend on the largest Android using community in the world. With such digital infrastructure at hand, the industry has a very large domestic market. Unlike IT business that is nothing more than a back office enterprise, AI could be the most dependable and stable engine of the nation’s economy and people’s prosperity.

In so far as Goan business is concerned, the small state has big problems.

Considering its geographical size, the industry sprawl is considerable. Injection of AI would go a long way in solving problems such as logistics, data analysis, solutions to environmental concerns, transport, operations, customer management, warehousing, etc. One of the main concerns expressed by the local community is that technologies such as AI may harm jobs. The fears are unfounded as research agencies claim that in the coming five years several million jobs will be created nationally, and Goa should expect its fair share.

AI is a powerful tool to engage customers in business. Industry and their businesses have, therefore, no excuse not to adopt AI. It delivers solutions to relate to customers and win their loyalty. The AI potential is as influential and powerful as one can imagine

The author is a writer with Oxford University Press and a published author FEBRUARY 2018 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 57

good company / Swatee Shere Rane

Implementation is critical to intent A look at the major proposals in Budget 2018 presented by Arun Jaitley

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his year’s budget is claimed to be pro-rural, pro-farmer, pro-poor and has been framed with an eye on the forthcoming elections. India Inc has welcomed this “Bharat”- oriented budget and cheered the measures for improving the rural economy which will create jobs, encourage entrepreneurship and set the tone for overall growth. Let’s look at the major budget proposals.

Taxation Although no change has been made in the personal income tax structure, a standard deduction of `40,000 in lieu of the present exemption in respect of transport allowance and reimbursement of medical expenses has been proposed.

For senior citizens, the exemption of interest income on deposits with banks and post offices has been increased to `50,000 (`10,000 currently) and TDS shall not be required to be deducted on such income. Also the deduction limit for health insurance premium and/ or medical expenditure for the senior citizens has been increased to `50,000 and the limit for medical expenditure in respect of certain critical illnesses has been raised to `1,00,000. The Budget has hiked the cess on tax from 3% to 4% for all tax payers, a measure that will push up the overall tax of high income taxpayers.

Long Term Capital Gains (LTCG) exceeding `1 Lakh on investments in equity and equity-oriented funds shall be taxed at 10%. Also, a tax on distributed income by equity-oriented mutual funds at the rate of 10% has been proposed.

Deemed dividend shall be taxed in the hands of the company itself as Dividend Distribution of tax at 30%.

With the above proposals, the government aims to give tax exemptions to senior citizens, but no major tax savings to the middle class have been announced.

Although bigger corporates receive no tax benefits, the MSMEs whose turnover does not exceed `250 crore, shall be now taxed at 25 %.

Farm reforms The Minimum Support Price (MSP) has been set at 1.5 times the production cost from the current kharif cycle and ‘Niti Ayog’ has been directed to put in place a mechanism to ensure farmers

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presenting Budget 2018

receive MSP even if market prices are lower. Krishi Sampada Yojana has been proposed to boost investment in food processing; aquaculture and animal husbandry infra development funds have been created. ‘Operation Greens’ shall promote farmer producer organizations, agro-logistics, and processing facilities of agriculture produce.

Although the government has announced the MSP to be set at 1.5 times of production cost, economists are apprehensive about the method of calculating cost of production and feel these proposals may not benefit farmers.

The MSP proposals are only for Kharif crop; the Rabi crop is not covered.

However, the proposal to set up 22,000 market centers, where farmers can sell directly to bulk buyers if implemented effectively, can assist the marketing of farm produce better.

Infrastructure development The government has allocated 5.35 lakh crore to develop 35,000 kms under phase I of the Bharatmala Project. Out of 100 smart cities, 99 have been selected with an outlay of `2.04 lakh crore. The Government Railway Capex has been fixed at `1.48 lakh crore and the budget proposes to eliminate unmanned crossing in two years. It is also proposed to install escalators at all railway stations with greater than 25,000 footfalls. Besides this, `11,000 crore has been allotted for the Mumbai rail network and `17,000 crore for the Bengaluru Metro. The government

The writer is a practising Company Secretary and Chartered Accountant 58 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

plans to expand airport capacity by five times to one billion trips a year and the Udan scheme plans to connect 64 unconnected airports. Allocation to the Digital India scheme has been doubled and five lakh Wi-Fi hotspots shall be set up. The budget also proposes to consolidate three PSU general insurance players and to subsequently list the entity.

Rural Development Under this year’s budget, eight crore poor women shall receive free LPG. Power shall be connected to four crore people through PM Saubhagya yojana. One crore houses shall be built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and two crore toilets under the Swach Bharat Mission.

Provident Funds The permission to use fixed-term labour contracts has been extended for all industries, which could augment employment and investment.

Government shall contribute 12% of wages of new employees in EPF in all sectors for three years. Women’s contribution to EPF will be reduced to 8% for the first three years.

Education An amount of one lakh crore has been allocated to revitalization and upgradation of the education sector. The government aims to move from blackboard to digital board schools by 2022. Yet, no structural changes to the existing education systems were announced.

@businessgoa

Healthcare Under Aayushman Bharat programme, 1.5 lakh centres will be set up to provide for health facilities closer home.

The government also proposes to roll-out the world’s largest government-funded healthcare programme, ‘National Healthcare Protection Scheme’, with 50 crore beneficiaries providing `5 lakh in treatment cost to each family.

The financial requirement for this scheme, if we go by premiums paid in successful state-run schemes, will not be less than `3,000 per household, which would mean an outlay of close to `30,000 crore. However, the `2,000 crore allocated for health insurance in the Budget is less than what most state governments spend on similar schemes.

Increase in Customs duties Customs duties have been hiked on crude edible vegetable oils, sunglasses, cigarette, lighter, toys, bus and truck tires, imitation jewellery, watches, wearable devices, footwear, LCD/LED/ OLED panels, parts of TVs. The hike in customs duties has no sunset clause, which means these changes are here to stay for longer periods. Also most industries getting protected are not infants, suggesting a return to protection policies of yesteryears.

Some months ago, I read Chetan Bhagat’s column in The Times of India in which he had had written about 3 Is – ‘Intent’, ‘Initiative’ and ‘Idea’, which saved our PM the backlash of the demonetization monster.

Same three Is give this year’s budget a thumbs up. All the three Is were present – Intent,

Initiative and Idea. Yet, if these three Is are not followed by the most important ‘I’ for implementation, we may not achieve much.

As with Swachh Bharat Mission, for which citizens pay Swachh Bharat Cess, the achievements of the cleanliness drive are far below average. We still see heaps of garbage dumped on streets and our capital city is declared as one of the most polluted places. In the same manner, if not effectively implemented, the Modi-care scheme may have to be written away as election propaganda of the ruling party. Already, many are crying foul about the scheme being announced without the necessary fund outlay. Another letdown of this year’s budget is that no major disinvestments of public sector companies have been announced other than

‘Air India’. Disinvestment of loss-making public sector companies could have assisted in pumping new private investments and thus creation of new jobs. The Education sector in the country also needs a revamp urgently, but unfortunately the Budget is silent on this front.

You also cannot turn a blind eye to observations made by economists regarding the breach of revenue deficit by a large margin. The revenue deficit measures the extent to which revenue expenditure exceeds revenue receipts. As against the target of 1.95% of GDP, the revenue deficit for the current fiscal is estimated to touch 2.65%. Although the Finance Minister astutely announced the fiscal deficit to be 3.5% of GDP for 2017-18, one cannot ignore the revenue deficit which is ballooning year after year

FEBRUARY 2018 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 59

economania / Dr. Manoj S. Kamat

Between the Cup and the Lip !

The columnist examines the cause and effects of the recently announced data on retail inflation

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he Central Statistical Organisation of India recently released its monthly data on inflation for the month of December 2017. According to the published data, retail inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) surged to 5.2 percent in December from the 4.9 percent levels in November, which was at a 17-month high since July 2016 while the Wholesale Price levels (WPI) figures contracted to 3.6 percent for the same period to a three-month low, from 3.9 percent in the previous month.

Though this appears to be a contradiction, the increased CPI on one hand and decreased the WPI on the other can be attributed to the composition of goods basket in computing both indices.

The WPI considers the wholesale rates and is based on three: manufactured components (with weight of 64%), primary goods (23%) and fuel and energy (12%). CPI composition comprises of goods used by commoners in day life, using retail prices. Three basic factors explain the difference. Firstly, inflation in vegetable products recorded a massive 56% rise in CPI compared to the 34% drop in inflation in cereals forming the part of WPI basket. Secondly, the rise in housing related products in the CPI basket and, thirdly, an increase in personal products and services (only part of CPI).

We behaved differently The current pitch of inflation in CPI is beyond the expected figures of the RBI and much higher than those of the G-20 nations for the same month. Between 2012 and 2017, inflation in India averaged at 6.71 percent with the least rate of 1.54% in June 2017 and highest 12.17% in November 2013. One may compare our inflation rate of 5.21% in last December with that of China (1.8%), Hong Kong (1.6%), Singapore (0.6%), Israel, Qatar and Saudi (less than 0.4%). Supposedly, the RBI is caught in a tight spot of curtailing inflation surging northwards on the one hand, in correcting the frugal fiscal situation, and accelerating low pitched domestic growth on the other. As the economic budget and credit policy is likely to unfold, it will be intriguing to see how the Ministry of Finance and the RBI will react in response.

The present rising inflation suggests excess of money supply in the economy and can be theoretically addressed by prescribing the contractionary (tightening) monetary policy The pulls and pressures The present rising inflation suggests excess of money supply in the economy and can be theoretically addressed by prescribing the contractionary (tightening) monetary policy. The RBI last did this and increased the interest (repo) rate in January 2014, October 2013 and May 2013. The object is to squeeze out money from markets by restricting credit and reducing excess consumer spending through discouraged market demand.

At such times, commercial banks are compelled to pay higher interest to the RBI which in turn prompts them to raise the interest rates on the loans they offer.

The customers are then dissuaded from taking credit from banks, leading to a shortage of money in the economy and less liquidity, thus deflating the inflation.

Given the relatively rising average inflation over the past one-and-a-half year and an expectation that it will rise further due to crude oil heating up in the international markets, the most obvious response expected from the RBI is to tighten its policy by increasing the interest rates. However, ASSOCHAM and FICCI are demanding a rate cut.

Still struggling with liquidity woes postdemonetisation and the GST regime, they want reduced borrowing cost and are lobbying hard to boost growth. The government is also under pressure to increase the magnitude of job creation to fulfil their pre-poll promises.

Markets suggest a rate hike If one carefully analyses market micromovements, we can clearly gauge three

evident signals that the markets are expecting an immediate interest rate hike. The widening bond yield and repospread points out to a rate hike ahead.

Economic theory posits that normal yield curves are positive as the yield on long term bonds is higher than that on short term. The normal yield curve steepens when the gap between yields in short and long term bonds widens. According to precedence, when the spread between short term and long term yields widens, policy-tightening soon follows. Thus, the markets always seem to be ahead of central banks in anticipating future inflation. In India, the 10-year sovereign bond yield has risen from around 6.4 percent in January 2017 to around 7.4 percent as on January 24, 2018 and the gap between this rate and current repo rate (at 6 percent) has widened from 0.4 to around 1 percent levels now, signalling further inflation in the future and necessitating a tight-money policy through increase in interest rates. The derivative instruments in the fixedincome markets also appear to indicate a tight policy regime. The Overnight Index Swap (OIS) is an interest rate derivative used to hedge one’s position against future credit-cost movements either way, with the instrument offering a fixed rate considered less risky than the corresponding interbank gauge. In India, OIS rates were at a seven-month high as on December 26, 2017. The one-year OIS rates were 6.46 percent, while the fiveyear OIS rate scaled to 6.73 percent till last December-end, trading much higher than the fair value and pointing to an

The writer has a Post Doctorate in Economic Policy and PhD from IIT Bombay in the subject of Financial Economics. He can be reached at: mskamat@gmail.com 60 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

www.businessgoa.in

inevitable increase in policy rates. The markets expect a rate hike.

Will we still remain in(different)?

The central banks around the world are in a mood to follow a tight policy in a complete departure from the loose money policy since the financial crisis a decade ago.

The US Federal Reserve Bank, for instance, has been raising rates for the last two years and has projected three more rate hikes in 2018. The Bank of Canada has lifted rates twice in 2017; Bank of England soon followed suit and the People’s Bank of China symbolically nudged the rates northwards. So, unless the RBI follows the same trend, we could risk outflows of foreign capital from India as other things remaining equal, the hot capital prefers to fly at developed markets

given the less risk involved there compared to emerging economies.

Obviously, as of now, the RBI is caught between the devil and the deep sea.

Practically, a rate cut is what the industry demands now.

The government certainly desires growth. The election season for big states is to hit soon and employment can only be generated through growth. Economic theory, at this juncture, prescribes a rate hike.

Curtailing inflation will only sooothen the sentiments of the electorate. Heated oil prices are already affecting us. The effective real rate of return is worsening. Market micro-structure hints that the interest rate hike is inevitable.

The developed economies have already hiked their rates.

Will India still prefer a rate dip? There are chances, that there may be a slip

FEBRUARY 2018 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 61

What’s Up Goa

@businessgoa

Festa de Fado celebrated in full swing

L to R: Sonia Shirsat, Orlando de Noronha and Carlos Menezes

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ado de Goa, in association with the Deccan Heritage Foundation, held the first ever Festa de Fado on January 21, 2018 at the Maquinez Palace.

The event included a master class on Fado conducted by Goa’s very own Fadista, Sonia Shirsat, about the music form followed by a concert where the students of Fado de Goa performed together with their mentor.

Fado de Goa is an ongoing

initiative of Sonia Shirsat and Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris, through which over 200 students from the chapters in Margao, Panaji and Vasco have been educated in this music genre through sessions of theory and singing. In addition to assignments, they completed written and oral exams before an external panel consisting of experts in music and the Portuguese language

Goa Food and Cultural Festival held

Goa Food and Cultural Festival - Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar inaugurating the Goa Food and Cultural Festival 2018

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he Goa Food and Cultural Festival was held at Panaji on January 9th, 2018, amidst much fanfare and festivities with tourists and food fans thronging D. B Bandodkar Ground in large numbers.

The five day Food and Cultural festival 2018 was inaugurated at the hands of Minister for Tourism, Manohar Ajgaonkar in the presence of the Chairman

Rock Om Yoga gives you new fitness goals this year

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ttempting to provide a rejuvenating experience for fitness lovers in India through its brand launch of Rock Om, a Sound Body wellness program, Hard Rock Hotel Goa has encouraged the new trend of play hard and purify harder. Rock Om is an in-room yoga experience, energising the body and soul through the power of music, working in collaboration with Manduka, the world’s most respected yoga equipment and apparel brand.

One of Rock Om’s trademarks is that it provides guests with top-of-the-line yoga equipment to utilize during their stay. To add to this list is the Hard Rock spin on in-room yoga classes, combining original tracks by DJ Drez fused with his wife, yogi Marti Nikko’s dynamic instruction on the easilyaccessible Video On-Demand television channel. Rock Om consists of three individual in-room yoga videos – Zenith, Zepplin and Zen – that will be available for guests at the

property. In addition, it will also be available on the Rock

62 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

Om landing page where guests and non-guests can follow along.

Excited about the new launch of the unique concept introduced by Hard Rock International, Vikas Sharma, general manager, Hard Rock Hotel Goa, said, “Yoga is very much a part of Indian culture; it is a holistic way of life that integrates the body, mind and soul. Today, healthy living is the need of the hour as life has become hectic and there is absolutely no time to disconnect, pull the plug, sit down and relax. Rock Om® invigorates the soul and energizes the body through a musical journey, combining the energy of dance with the serenity of yoga.” The customized yoga experience delivered through this program available at Hard Rock Hotel Goa and other Hard Rock Hotels worldwide as well as upcoming properties, will allow guests to refresh, rejuvenate and reenergize through the power of music

of GTDC, Nilesh Cabral, Surendra Furtado, Mayor CCP, Menino D’Souza, Director Tourism, Govt. of Goa, Nikhil Desai, MD, GTDC and other officials.

This annual food and cultural extravaganza has earned the distinction of bringing together professionals from the tourism and hospitality industry; hoteliers, restaurateurs, beverage brands and lifestyle outlets to showcase their premium offerings. The festival also includes an interesting lineup of entertainment.

Some of the festival highlights include food and lifestyle stalls, performances by popular national bands including Agnee, Lagori, Ravi Chary with Gino Banks & Troupe, live music by top Goan Bands – Crimson Tide and Rahul with Raagas 2 Riches, international dance performances, fashion show

by Anusha Shaikh, sand sculpture workshop, Chef de Goa Cooking Contest, and much more.

This year, the festival included an exciting Chef de Goa competition which was an excellent platform for those with culinary skills and creativity to showcase it all. The competition aimed at demonstrating the rich cuisine and various delicacies of Goa. The contestants had to participate in a series of rounds to win the coveted title and the finals will be held in February www.businessgoa.in

@businessgoa

February Festivities at Le Meridien Goa Calangute Verandah

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elebrate the month of love at Le Meridien Goa Calangute. From a romantic dinner to a date night under the stars, this one promises to brighten your Valentine’s Day plans.

Unique Dining Experience Dine under the stars at Verandah.

Indulge in a curated four-course dinner in the twilight at Le Meridien Goa Calangute. Verandah offers an old world charm to your dining experience.

The menu is certain to regale your loved one as it features the choicest

Grilled Prawns

ingredients and local produce cooked to perfection in a selection of authentic Goan and international preparations paired with a bottle of sparkling wine.

Enjoy the cool February breeze as you relish flavourful specials that complement the mood of the dinner.

Date: February 14 Venue: Verandah, Le Meridien Goa, Calangute Exclusive dinner, available on request.

For reservations: +91-8322267777 Price: `10,000+taxes for a

Taj celebrates ‘Festival of Love’

pm Fall in love at the romantic Cabana Dinner on the rooftop by the pool. Under the stars, take in the breathtaking views of the iconic city of Panaji. In the midst of a romantic ambience decked with candle light, delight in an extravagant five-course spread comprising Indian, Goan, Oriental and European delicacies specially curated for Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Specials at Caramel

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ebruary – it’s that time of the year which celebrates the beauty of love. This Valentine’s Day, express your love for your valentine with delectable moments and special surprises. Taj Hotel and Resorts across Goa has designed an exquisite collection of Valentine’s Day festivities: Valentine’s Cabana Dinner Venue: Vivanta by Taj, Panaji 14th February, 7.30 pm to 11

Valentine’s Candlelit Dinner at Latitude Venue: Latitude, Vivanta by Taj, Panaji 14th February, 7.30 pm to 11 pm Enjoy a candle lit dinner at Latitude with a decadent buffet spread and live performance by Jouquim, the Saxophonist. Indulge in divine desserts which will be creatively laid out in the shape of a heart. A Lucky couple who participates in the Valentine’s Special Draw

couple (includes a bottle of sparkling wine).

Dinner & Dancing at J&G Spend a romantic evening at J&G as you serenade your loved one with Latin tunes and bachata moves with Snaden Shawn Dance Academy. The talented team has prepared a special three-course dinner featuring classics from J&G for your date night; pair it with your favourite drink for the ultimate dining experience. Don your dancing shoes and head to J&G at Le Meridien Goa Calangute, for a memorable Valentine’s Day. will stand a chance to win a complimentary stay at a select Taj Hotel.

Valentine’s Special Goodies at Caramel Venue: Caramel, Vivanta by Taj, Panaji 13th - 14th February, 10am to 10 pm Treat your loved ones to enticing savouries and goodies at Caramel. Savour a special menu comprising appetizing delights, specially curated to celebrate the special bond in your relationship.

Private Dining Experience at Taj Fort Aguada Discover the heart fluttering excitement of Valentine’s Day by indulging your significant other with a tantalizing meal at Taj Fort Aguada Resort & Spa. Feel your heart skip a beat as you discover and set the mood for an extraordinary love story at Fishtail, a secluded venue overlooking the Arabian Sea. Live the most romantic moment of your life with the company of your

Date: February 14 Venue: J&G, Le Meridien Goa Calangute For reservations: +91-8322267777 / 7410066042 Price: `2000+ taxes per person (includes select beverages) Timing: 9 pm onwards.

Seafood Grills Calling all pescaterians for a feast as Latest Recipe presents Seafood Grills every evening at the alfresco.

Savour the choicest of grills featuring freshly sourced seafood paired with different marinades. Indulge in fresh baby red snappers, prawns, kingfish, crabs and lobsters as you enjoy the cool evening breeze and sip on refreshing concoctions. It is sure to be an unforgetable experience.

Venue: Latest Recipe Date: February 9-17 For reservations: +917410066040 Timings: 7-10 pm beloved seated by the pool in a picturesque backdrop.

Indulge in a luxurious fourcourse gourmet meal coupled with a bottle of sparkling Rose Wine. To sweeten the memory, finish off with a toothsome heart shape chocolate cake.

Venue: Taj Fort Aguada Resort & Spa, Goa 14th February, 7.30 pm to 11.30 pm Special Valentine’s Dinner Amidst twinkling lights and a stunning backdrop on the outer deck at Caravela and Sunset Deck, escape with your loved one to an enchanted world overlooking the breathtaking view of the Arabian Sea. Perfectly accompanied by a five course gourmet menu and coupled with a bottle of sparkling wine, it is a moment worth capturing with your special one.

Venue: Taj Holiday Village Resort& Spa, Goa 14th February, 7.30 pm to 10.30 pm

FEBRUARY 2018 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 63

BonAppétit

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Amavi by Sumera, Calangute

Veni. Vici. Amavi.

It’s not without reason that Amavi was awarded the Best New Restaurant - Premium Dining at the Times Food Awards 2018

Warm Danish Blue Cheese Cloud

M

By JONQUIL SUDHIR

y hopes of living a dairy-free existence have been well and truly buried. After eating one of the most delectable dishes I’ve had in a long time, I realize I was foolish to ever think I could live without cheese. But more on that later.

Amavi by Sumera is a fine-dining restaurant tucked away in a quiet corner of Calangute (yes, there is such a place!).

Owned by Sumera Bhalla, and Shahnaz and Shailesh Kuwadekar, the restaurant shares a compound with The Art Chamber. Thoughtfully designed, with a mix of traditional and contemporary architecture, green open spaces divide the wide dining area. This means that even if the restaurant is packed to capacity – which it was on a Tuesday evening – you don’t realize it unless you look around.

The affable manager, Lucky, recommended we begin with their signature cocktail, The Velvet Eddie, made with strawberries and Martini Rosso.

There’s a reason why this is a popular choice among diners. Both elements complement each other perfectly. The Virgin Cucumber Gimlet was light and refreshing, perfect to perk you up after a long day. Hot Passion (Cointreau, passion fruit, Thai chili peppers poured over ice) and Golden Caiprinha (with muddled peaches and apricots as opposed to the traditional Brazilian version) also seemed interesting.

The menu took some reading as this is not your regular Sunday out fare. The menu at Amavi is a reflection of Chef Sumera Bhalla’s style of cooking. The 64 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

Beef Wellington

The Smoked Chicken Breast

Oberoi School of Hotel Management and Dadar Catering College alumnus mixes ingredients and flavours attributed to various cuisines to create dishes that are truly global. Some of the dishes that caught my eye were Thyme and SaltCured Tenderloin Carpaccio, Marinated Crabmeat in Panko, Farm Butter Crisped, and White Truffle and Parmesan Risotto.

But back to the dish that shattered my dairy-free dreams. Our first appetizer was the Warm Danish Blue Cheese Cloud. The pillowy soft blue cheese served alongside candied Kagzi Kashmir walnuts, and dried figs in port glaze on a bed of tossed greens was indeed a cloud that transported to food heaven. The cheese alone was superlatively good, but the crunch from the walnuts, sweetness from the figs and the freshness of the greens elevated this starter.

The standard had been set. And it was pretty darn high. Next came the Special Spice Rubbed Grilled Chicken.

This plate had numerous little elements, but each one played a part in its success – the moist and flavourful chicken, the cubes of honeydew melon, the drops of beetroot gel, wasabi, pickled ginger, salted anise powder and even the basil and dill garnishes.

We were then served a berry sphere with popping candy, a wonderful palate cleanser between courses.

The first of our mains was a Beef Wellington. I’m used to treating this dish like an edible present – a neat puff pastry parcel to be cut up to reveal a fillet coated with duxelles (a finely-chopped

mushroom preparation). And if you love your samosa corners like I do, then the crusty puff pastry edges are always a treat. So I was little crestfallen to see the wellington already cut up and… no crusty edges! One bite later, however, and all was good with the world again.

The medium-cooked beef was juicy, puff pastry cooked to perfection and the Port jus served as the perfect sauce. The carrot puree and creamed potato rounded it up well.

The Smoked Chicken Breast was pretty as a picture. The pieces of chicken sat atop creamed potatoes, sautéed mushrooms and were served with crispy sweet potato chards. Both mains were served with bowls of salad.

At this point, we were quite full, but you know what they say… there’s always room for dessert! We ordered the Hot Grand Marnier Orange soufflé accompanied with bitter chocolate gelato and Pavlova. A good soufflé takes 20 minutes to bake, but it was worth the wait.

Perfectly risen in a white ramekin, the acidity from the fresh orange segments in the soufflé complemented the rich custard. The pavlova (a meringue-based dessert served with berries and whipped cream) was a good balance of tart and sweet.

This award-winning restaurant lives up to every expectation and then some.

So much so, that I just lifted the title off Amavi’s website. Because there’s no better to way to describe the dining experience.

Veni. Vedi. Amavi. We came. We saw. We loved

BonAppétit

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Cafe Azul, Cidade de Goa

Pic: Narayan Pissurlenkar

At Cidade… it’s all about the buns

C

idade de Goa, the five start resort in Dona Paula, is hosting a Burger & Beer festival from February 16-25. The waterfront restaurant, Café Azul, is the perfect venue for this feast.

A burger is almost always judged by the flavours and texture of the patty while the bun’s role – though vital to the taste of a burger – is often disregarded.

Executive Chef Sunit Sharma and his team have decided to take the bun out of the background and draw attention to it. Each of the burgers on offer is named depending on the bun, rather than the filling; and each bun is named after its

colour. There are no standard sesame buns for all the burgers, but each type has its own special bun to complement it.

“Black” is the classic beef burger with bacon, cheddar sauce and balsamic onion relish in a charcoal bun. “Tomato red” is a take on kheema pao. The five star version of this street food staple is every bit as good as the original. The “Beetroot Red” is a chicken patty in a beetroot bun topped with mustard cheese sauce and a very delectable tomato jam. If you need you daily fish fix, then there’s “White”, a panko fried fish fillet in a sesame bun.

The quintessential Goan street fare favourite, ross omelet, can be found on this menu in a slightly different avatar.

“Yellow” features a masala omelet (or a double-fried egg) slathered with xacuti

gravy in a masala bun.

For vegetarians, the options are equally exciting. New life is breathed into the vada pav in the “Green” burger.

A spiced potato patty in a mint coriander bun sprinkled with a garlic peanut and chili crumb is the Cidade de Goa version of the Bombay favourite. “Brown” is a Goan vegetarian version of a cutlet pao – seasonal local vegetables in a poi with peri peri sauce. Another delicious vegetable burger is “Orange” – a sweet corn and winter vegetable cutlet in a zesty orange bun and enhanced with a soya ginger sauce. All burgers are served with a 330ml beer, house salad and fries/wedges.

There is even a dessert offering – the very enjoyable “Red-Velvet”, a red velvet doughnut filled with a swirl of chocolate mousse and topped with vanilla ice cream. Head to Cidade de Goa to satisfy your burger cravings

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1st Floor, Ashirwad Building, 18th June Road, Panaji GOA 403001 Tel:. 0832-6647038 66 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

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Yi Goa hosts an evening of high calibre business discourse

Yi’s Goa Chapter hosted an evening of stimulating business and entrepreneurial discourse with contemporary Indian visionaries through oration and panel discussions to understand their vision for a ‘New India.’

The Conclave was inaugurated through a short function addressed by Ninad Karpe, chairman, CII Western Region; Atrey Sawant, Chairman, CII Goa State Council, and was followed by three plenary sessions. The First Session featured a seasoned start up entrepreneur Rahul Narvekar, Founder CEO, The India Network in dialogue with Kirit J Maganlal, Director & Chief Executive, Magsons Network Pvt Ltd, who shared his journey from a chawl to the corporate world, from being an employee to a path-breaker entrepreneur. There was a session on ‘Building a New India that aspires to be a Global Economic Leader’ deliberated by R Mukundan, managing director, Tata Chemicals Limited in discussion with Shrinivas Dempo, chairman, Dempo Shipbuilding & Eng Pvt Ltd. The third session saw Kanika Tekriwal, chief executive officer, JetSetGo who shared her story of being a girl from Bhopal who now flies the who’s who of India Inc. She has beaten cancer and broken the glass ceiling on the way to glorious success Tanvi Doshi Sawant

Rupesh Gauns, Chairman of Yi Goa Chapter and Tanvi Doshi Sawant, Programme Director, co-ordinated the event along with their team

Shrinivas Dempo

Ninad Karpe

Sandip Bhandare

Ryan Costa

Kirit Maganlal

Rupesh Gauns

Gaurpriya Pai Kane

Rahul Narvekar

Atreya Sawant

Tulasidas Pai

Vikram Verlekar

Nikhil Khalap

Viraj Dhond

Pratiksha Khalap

Ameet Sukhtankar

Rajesh Salgaonkar

Nitin Desai

Aniruddh Dempo

Yatish Dempo

Dhruv Rajani

Sairaj Dhond

Raja Melvani

Sandip Verenkar

Mahesh Prabhu

Reshma Sukhtankar

Kanika Tekriwal

Devki Modak

68 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

Pallavi Salgaocar

Omkar Kamat Sambary Nikhil Lawande R Mukundan

Roshan Kumar

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The India Yachting Festival anchors Goa as a strong luxury experience for high end discerning visitors

The Republic Day long weekend in Goa saw the fantastic vClusive Cup – India Yachting Festival at Candolim beach. An experience that combined sailing, lifestyle and entertainment, the Festival was attended by luxury spenders from across India and marine brands from across the world.

Vinu Sundaresan, Founder & CEO, vClusive said, “The vClusive Cup - India Yachting Festival is a platform that focuses on lifestyle experience. We are committed Pranay Birla Jatin Singh to shaping the development of the luxury and marine Vinu Sundaresan, Amit Dutta and Gautama Dutta sector. We believe in involving the industry towards the growth of the tourism and leisure industry at large.”

“Yachting is a leisure pastime that is waiting to be developed into a highly leveraged lifestyle and leisure activity. We realize its potential and we are committed to developing it in India. We believe yachting can fill this space promoting not only marine tourism, but also building infrastructure and creating employment,” said Hari Sukhmani Prasad Bidappa Rumi Gupta, Aria Sikdar, Lindsay and Gautama Dutta, Executive Director, Marine Solutions.

Denzil D’Silva Present at the Festival, Amit Dutta, Founder & Chairman, Luxury Hues Group, said, “We are in the business Asia and Pernod Ricard; and supported by partners like Campo of conceptualising lifestyle platforms, quintessentially global Viejo wines, Nescafe, Forevermark, Bro Code and Red Bull. concierge, experimental travel, which are relevant to the The Festival enthralled guests with mixology classes, water sports, live band performances by Goa’s Alcatrazz, folk and emerging needs of affluent Indians.”

The vClusive Cup - India Yachting Festival was presented electronic fusion duo Hari + Sukhmani, fusion band Raagas to by leading Indian and international brands such as Renault, Air Riches and DJs Russel and DJ Sameer Zaine

Vini Keni

70 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

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NewsMakers Atanasio Monserrate to head Greater Panaji PDA

Former Santa Cruz MLA Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate is all set to be appointed as chairman of the Greater Panaji Planning and Development Authority (PDA). The government of Goa has only just finalized the constitution of the body and will soon notify the appointment.

The constitution of the PDA was consequent to a decision by Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardessai to divide the North Goa Planning and Development Authority into two more PDAs. The other members of the Greater Panaji PDA are Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Taleigao MLA Jennifer Monserrate, St Cruz MLA Tony Fernandes, St Andre MLA Francisco Silveira and Cumbarjua MLA Pandurang Madkaikar. The sarpanchas of Taleigao, Chimbel, St Cruz, Old Goa and Curca-Bambolim-Talaulim have also been appointed as members since the villages have been incorporated into the Greater Panaji PDA. Former senior town planner Pedro Coutinho, along with Mario Fernandes, Vivek Angle, Raj Malik and Atrey Sawant are also members

Alvina Almeida wins Biz Plan event Alvina Almeida, a student from Carmel College, recently won the 12th National Business Plan Competition (NBPC) at Jaipur organized by I Create (I). Alvina’s business plan of “providing organic – pot-plant gifting to customers” in Goa was well appreciated by a panel of international judges and the audience. She is the first Goan student to win this prestigious award, which included a cash prize of Rs 50,000. She proved her mettle by facing tough competition from participants among I Create’s twelve centers across India.

The objective of this competition is to promote a culture of entrepreneurship among Indian youth. I Create, a not-forprofit organization with its headquarters in Bangalore, has been operating in Goa to promote entrepreneurship among youth and various self-help groups

Sampada Kunkoliekar’s book released

Writer Sampada Kunkoliekar recently released her eighth book, Ravindra Kelekaranchya Sahityatle Tatvaginyan. The book was released by Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai at an event in Priol. Also present on the occasion were Jyoti Kunkoliekar, Vaibhav Fondekar, Raju Nayak and Girish Kelekar.

A voracious reader, once Sampada chanced upon a work of Ravindra Kelekar, she couldn’t stop at one and went on to read his entire body of literature. Her in-depth and analytical reading resulted in Sampada’ s latest book. Her first book ‘Mysterious Power’ was written in 2010. Sampada writes in Konkani, Marathi and English 72 | Business Goa industry Dossier | FEBRUARY 2018

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Albert Rebello is Taj Fort Aguada’s new General Manager

Albert Rebello, with more than 35 years of hotel experience, is the new general manager at Taj Fort Aguada Beach Resort & Spa. In his new role, Albert will be responsible for the continued success of the hotel, overseeing day-to-day operations and providing exceptional guest service.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have Albert join the team at Goa, as he brings with him a vast experience and passion for operating hotels,” said Farhat Jamal, Senior Vice President – Operations (West).

“Albert’s impressive background paired with his proven results will be instrumental in the continued success and momentum of the resort,” Jamal said

Ganesh Daivajna & Co celebrates 50 years of chartered accountancy On February 1, 1968, Ganesh Daivajna started his chartered accountancy practice in Margao with one employee. His firm, now comprising of chartered accountants and tax assistants, celebrated 50 years of accounting this month. The firm provides services to partnership firms, individuals, businesses, banks, and public sector units while following their motto of maintaining ethical, professional and technical standards by adopting quality control measures.

In the past, Daivajna has been chairman of the Goa Branch of Chartered Accountants Institute (1985-86) and, as a delegate of the CA Institute, attended World Accountants Conference at Vancouver, Canada in 1992

104 1. Created in 1997 by TBWA/Chiat/Day and used until 2002, Apple’s widelyused two-word slogan was a response to IBM’s one-word slogan that had been in use since 1911.

2. The 2016 film The Founder is inspired by the life of which legendary businessman?

3. Only twice has the Reserve Bank of India issued 125-rupee coins, on both occasions to commemorate the 125th birth anniversaries of an Indian stalwart. If the coins were released on 5th September 2014 and 6th December 2014, which two Indians did they honour thus?

4. What was the original name of HTC, the mobile device manufacturer?

5. Which is the only Porsche model designed by its founder Ferdinand Porsche?

6. Which gas major’s advertising punchline is ‘Bringing Energy to Life’?

7. Identify this businessman who passed away recently Answers to BG Quiz 103: 1. Satoshi 2. FC Goa 3. Kanan Devan 4. Grameen Bank 5. Pizza Hut 6. The Navhind Times 7. Vijay Shekhar Sharma Email your entries to businessgoa.media@gmail.com First all correct entry will get 1 year’s subscription to Business Goa

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