By James Eugene

Amazon and the Goan Government have held initial discussions on the potential collaboration between the internet giant and startups in Goa. Access to products and services, as well as support for e-commerce and private equity investments were discussed at the meeting.

The meeting was conducted at Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar’s house, who was accompanied by Director of IT Ameya Abhyankar. Ramachandra also brought along his legal advisor and a team of six officials as both parties focused on the positive outcomes for Amazon, Goa and the growing startup arena that is looking for growth, strategy and investments.

According to The Times Of India, Avinash Ramachandra, the Director of Public Policy at Amazon India, seemed very enthusiastic about the prospect of Amazon being involved in Goa’s startup scene.”This time that we are in is critical and it is important to make the best of the opportunity,” he said at the meeting. “This discussion indicates that there is scope for mutual collaboration and it opens a door for us”.

It is believed that startups in Goa will be able to use Amazon’s Launchpad platform, allowing them to showcase their innovations to a wider market of businesses and consumers, increasing growth opportunities. The Navhind Times has pointed out that Amazon India has already agreed to “create a startup eco-system for Goa [and] provide Launchpad to sell products from Goa”. There will also be an opportunity to access cloud services.

The meeting also highlighted many obstacles that will have to be tackled along the way. Ramachandra mentioned that warehouses, similar to the one recently opened in Chennai, will need to be build in Goa for logistical reasons (mainly to pick up and deliver products); while IT Director Abhyankar stressed the importance of tackling the problem of lack of internet access in the region, simple stating that Goa wants to “plug lack of access to the Internet”, before adding, “lack of data access can cause certain deprivation as far as competitive advantages are concerned”. He also pointed out that there will be a need to revisit the school curriculum and focus on improving the quality of teaching in IT.

Abhyankar also believes that collaborating with Amazon will be a boost to the Goa IT Investment Policy, which aims to increase the level of investment in IT companies in Goa, while having a positive effect on employment in the state. The IT Director also believes that setting up “state-of-the-art training laboratories” will further aid Amazon’s ability to train locals.

Amazon is currently a leading player in India’s online shopping market, enjoying a 36% share, 13% more than their closest rivals Flipkart. In fact, Amazon’s market share was at 23% in May 2015 last year, with an increase in its performance being attributed an improvement in direct desktop visits and their paid search campaign. Amazon have also been looking for ways to increase demand for their Amazon Prime service by signing up Excel Entertainment to create shows for the online retailers. The first set of shows are rumoured to be cricket, showbiz and crime-based.