Business

Goa Miners Grapple with High Taxation, Lower Ore Prices

Published

9 years ago

September 3, 2015

The mining industry, which is all set to resume operations in Goa, finds itself in a tight spot as it faces the twin problem of a huge tax load and softer iron ore prices in the global market.

The miners in the state have announced that the preparatory work for resuming mining activity will start from October. The industry had been closed since September 2012 after authorities spotted large-scale irregularities.

“With lower prices and high taxation, it becomes challenging to move out ore and this needs rationalisation of taxes,” Goa Mineral Ore Exporters Association (GMOEA) Secretary Glenn Kalavampara told agency.

“The price of 58 degree ore has fallen to USD 37-38 while taxation on it is over 70 per cent,” he said. Higher taxes have adversely impacted the business, especially when the international market is showing no signs of revival, he said.

“Wherever there is double taxation, the government can reduce it till prices are stabilised,” Kalavampara suggested.

The office-bearer feels that the imposition of heavy export duty on iron ore is “an attempt to prohibit export of high grade ore”. “Goa traditionally has been exporting low-grade ore. The export duty on low grade ore should be removed,” he said.

While the mining industry has got its leases renewed and paid the licence fees mostly, traditional mine owners feel that “it is not viable to resume business”.

“Mining in these circumstances is not viable. The prices (of ore) are expected to fall further. Sale of auctioned ore (which was e-auctioned by the state government) is also not possible,” said Ambar Timblo, MD of Fomento Resources, a leading mining firm in the state.

Timblo maintained that his firm is planning to restart operations.

“But the decision on the actual date will be taken in the next month. So, the exact date of commencement of extraction is unclear at present,” he said.

Vedanta ‘s Sesa Iron Ore, which was the first company to announce its intention last month to mine again, has said the business leaves no profit after paying the taxes.

“The company looks at profit after taxes (PAT). Here there will be profit, but no PAT,” Sesa Iron Ore’s Vice-President, Corporate Affairs Aniruddha Joshi said.

Business

IT Minister Rohan Khaunte launches ‘Yellow Skies’, a business social media platform

Published

2 years ago

June 3, 2022

Priyanka Shet

Porvorim: Information Technology Minister Rohan Khaunte on Friday launched a Goan Start Up, The Yellow Skies (www.theyellowskies.com), an unique Business Social Media Platform.

The Yellow Skies is an online business social media platform that is created to promote various businesses across the globe, said Mr. Suraj Palekar – Founder of The Yellow Skies, The Yellow skies is the brainchild of Suraj Palekar

We are beginning our operations in Goa but our target is to go global soon, said Mr. Kiran Chandra who is the co-founder of The Yellow skies.

Vasudev Bhat- Co-founder mentioned that the platform will have lot of technological improvisation at regular intervals. Vasudev bhat heads the tech department for THE YELLOW SKIES .

Suraj Palekar appealed to business owners in Goa to subscribe to THE YELLOW SKIES and use it to promote their business. (GoaNewsHub)

Business

Incentives disbursed to Start-up : SPC

Published

3 years ago

October 9, 2021

Priyanka Shet

Panaji: The Start-up Promotion Cell (SPC), Government of Goa, has disbursed Rs. 17.00 Lakhs incentives to various startups approved by the High Powered Committee(Chaired by Hon’ble CM) under Seed Capital, Co-working space, interest subsidy and trademark reimbursement schemes of Goa Startup Policy 2017.

For boosting the Goan Startup Ecosystem, SPC in association with AIC-GIM, had organized a 2 day (29^th August 2021 and 3^rd September 2021) Startup Conclave & Entrepreneurship Summit called AnthaPrerna. The event witnessed participation from 50+ startups, 15 investors, students from various colleges, incubators and other stakeholders including the Ministry of Electronics and IT ( Meity). The event had various sessions related to New Startup Policy, Startup Showcase, success stories of Goan Startups, Successful Indian startups addressing Goan Startups, Investors round table conference, etc.

Recently, the Cabinet has approved the new Goa Start-up Policy 2021, revamping the old policy with various additional benefits. The new policy will also give impetus to Women Entrepreneurs. Access to Finance, Market and Talent along with Skill Development of Goan youth are the main pillars of the Goa Startup Policy 2021. The new policy has aligned the Goan Startup Definition with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Further, the policy envisages creating a Fund of Funds. With New Goa Startup Policy 2021, Goa is set to embark on its journey to empower, enable the local startup ecosystem and the new policy will be the start of putting Goa on the Startup map of India, Asia and world. (GoaNewsHub)

Business

Goa Cashew Feni Distillers and Bottlers Association hails notification of ‘Goa Feni Policy 2021’

Published

3 years ago

September 23, 2021

Priyanka Shet

Panaji : The Goa Cashew Feni Distillers and Bottlers Association (GCIDBA) has hailed the notification of the Goa Feni Policy, 2021 Speaking at the media conference held on Thursday. Gurudatta Bhakta. president, GCFDBA said, “On behalf of the stakeholders of the cashew feni industry we would like to express our gratitude to the chief minister.

Dr Pramod Sawant for initiating the notification of the “Goa Feni Policy, 2021 The notification of the feni policy in the state will lead to rapid intervention and important improvements which will positively impact the feni industry as a whole.”Bhakta also expressed his gratitude to the late chief minister Manohar Parrikar for initiating the ‘Feni Policy and former CM Laxmikant Parsekar for giving feni the status of Heritage Spirit of Goa According to Bhakta, the GCFDBA had achieved success in creating awareness and raising standards for the betterment of cashew feni in Goa and worldwide.

Bhakta complimented commissioner of excise, Shashank Tripathi. for paving the path for stakeholders to chalk out a road map for feni and former commissioner of excise and Menino D’Souza for initiating this process.Bhakta thanked the team of Revisions Martins and Deepak Parab of the department of science and technology for initiating a geographical indication (GI) status for cashew feni. He said, “The GI is an intellectual property right (IPR) provided by the Government of India to protect cashew feni and its stakeholders from any attempt to infringe appropriately or dilute the status of cashew feni as the Heritage Drink of Goa.”

Speaking on the occasion, Hansel Vaz, secretary, GCFDBA said that the feni industry directly injected revenue to all of Goa’s rural and marginal farmers and hinterland communities who operated without any government support or subsidy -The present prevailing system is unique to the world and exclusive to Goa and allows communities to themselves remain self-sufficient by adding value, skill upgrade and reducing farm waste through cashew distillation.

This approach is in sync with the prime minister’s philosophy of an ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), Vaz said Tukaram Haldankar, treasurer. GCFDBA sought the support of the state to help in exporting Goan cashew feni to other countries and states within India. The state government must create a sponsored initiative to promote feni as the state drink of Goa. We want to take our Goan fent to the world, Haldankar said. (GoaNewsHub)