Goa's investment promotion board CEO resigns

Even as Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has assured to revamp the investment promotion board to attract more investment into the state, the agency's CEO has resigned, claiming 'red-tape' in its functioning.

Vishal Prakash, chief executive officer of the Goa Investment Promotion and Facilitation Board (Goa-IPB), on Tuesday evening tendered his resignation to its chairman.

Sawant is the chairman of the state-run board, whose mandate includes reviewing investment proposals and to draft approval process, guidelines and standard operating procedures for new investments, among others.

A few weeks ago, the chief minister had said he would fine-tune the working of the board to make it a single window system' for processing investment proposals.

In his resignation letter, Prakash said, "I believed that my expertise and skill-sets would bring about a change in the functioning of Goa-IPB which is the showcase organisation for anyone looking to invest in Goa.

However, thats not been the case and I have been bogged down by the same red-tapism that businesses complain about, he added.

The outgoing CEO said he genuinely believed Goa was taking the lead in attracting talent from the private sector.

Freshness of thoughts and working styles could transform the below par image of the state from an investor perspective, Prakash maintained.

The board till date has received industrial investment proposals worth Rs 1,070 crore through 166 projects creating employment opportunities for 22,586 people.