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Its slowdown time for Goa partners

With the ongoing mining issues in the state, dealers claim that the sales have dipped drastically in the city

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Ranjeeta
New Update

Famous for its cashew feni, bebinca, fish curry, and, scenic beaches, Goa certainly needs no other reason to emerge as the favorite holiday destination in India. Located in the Konkan region of India, Goa, is the smallest state in the country. The city is bounded by the state of Maharashtra in the North, and Karnataka in the East and South, while the Arabian Sea forms its western coast. Vasco da Gama is the largest city of the state while Panaji is the state capital. Goa is a former Portuguese colony and the historic city of Margao still exhibits the cultural influence of the Portuguese, who conquered the city in early 16th century. Moreover, many Indian classical singers hail from Goa, including Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Kishori Amonkar and Kesarbai Kerkar among others.

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Goa is also notable for its low beer, wine and spirit prices due to the very low excise duty on alcohol. Renowned for its beaches, places of worship and world heritage architecture, Goa is visited by large numbers of international and domestic tourists each year. As hospitality is the major industry, the IT market in Goa is trivial and hence there is no substantial change in the growth verticals. Government sector, corporate segment and retail are the prime revenue verticals. Dinesh Pai Vernekar, owner, The Computer Shop said, "Market scenario is bad at present with no noteworthy business happening in the city. The primary reasons for this is the free laptop distribution scheme floated by government which had an adverse effect on the retailers and distributors. Also because of the ongoing mining issues, sales are getting affected. However, government, corporate and retail are the primary growth verticals of the city."

Nagaraj Prabhu, secretary, Goa IT Business Association (GIBA) said, "Nearly 60-70% of the people depend on the mines, either directly or indirectly. With the mines not performing in a full-fledged way, sales have dipped. Also a sudden hike in all the components have also impacted the sale this year." Dhiren Mehta, president, Goa IT Business Association (GIBA) also said in concurrence, "The first and the foremost issue is of the mining industries, which had stopped working on court issues and had undergone cost-cutting activities. With most of us believing in the mines, we are unable to make good money this time."

The top selling products are netbooks, laptops, desktops, printers and servers and according to the partners, HP and Sony are the top selling brands. Talking about the local IT association of the city Vernekar said the Goa IT Business Association (GIBA) is functioning well in the city. He added, "GIBA is very active in the region. It conducts regular meetings and activities. Although I am not very actively involved in the association, but the association functions really well in the region."

The city boasts of a decent number of 300-400 dealers operating on a daily basis. Talking about the future prospects of the Goa IT market, Vernekar said, "I am hopeful that the mining issues will soon get settled and business will return to normal."

Market Name: Goa

Market Location: Maharashtra

Surrounding Market: Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Nashik

Computer Association: Goa Information Technology Business Association (GIBA)

Prominent Dealers: Computronics Infotech, Jamsons Computer, Magnamious Systems, Microciti, Prabhu and Prabhu, Sunny Enterprise, Syscon Automation, Texel Computers, The Computer Shop

Business Verticals: Government, corporate, retail

No of dealers: 300-400

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