Goa IDC becomes debt free

Panaji: After reeling under severe debt for many years, State-run Goa Industrial Development Corporation (Goa IDC) has managed to come out of the red through its innovative financing model.

Goa IDC Managing Director Pravimal Abhishek said the corporation had been reeling under lot of debt for many years. “In 2022-23, we recovered from debt and now we are in a position where we have flexibility to finance infrastructure projects.” Abhishek said Goa IDC has adopted an innovative financing model called ‘value capture financing’. “We have identified some of the prime valued assets of IDC and tried to extract maximum value out of those assets. The maximum value can be extracted when I am going in the market and selling the product at the market price,” he said. Abhishek said the corporation faced difficulties in the first three rounds of e-auctions of its plots with no bidders coming forward to buy the lands. “We had seen that the number of plots which did not receive bids was high. This was because no investor pitch was made. Even if there was pitch, the regulations in the past and procedures to participate in the auction were cumbersome,” he added. In 2023, Goa IDC during the fourth round of e-auction did lot of publicity and realised that traction was very good. “All the plots for the e-auction were in Verna Industrial Estate. Total revenue we realised was Rs 121 crore in last four auctions,” he said. Taking a step further, Abhishek said Goa IDC is now looking at e-auctioning 16 plots, which will receive good response as they are being done under new liberalised regulations, adopted in December last year. “The bidding for the next round will happen in the first week of March for which we are expecting a healthy competition,” he said. Abhishek said that Invest Goa Summit scheduled for January 29 will add to the response for the fifth e-auction. “We are telling people that these are set of opportunities. We will tell the people that Goa is best for investment,” he said. Abhishek said Goa IDC has 18 square kilometre of land under industrial estate areas of which 15-20 per cent is still available. “Entire tourism put together, the contribution to GDP is marginally lower... As a part of regulations we have made it mandatory that no red category industry will come to Goa,” he added. Abhishek said exercises like Invest Goa 2024 are required because opportunities need to be told in an amplified manner. “It needs to be reached to a wider audience, not just nationally but also globally. There is so much interest that is generated across the country.