Lease Rental Subsidy Scheme

What is the Lease Rental Subsidy Scheme?

Lease Rental Subsidy Scheme, 2018 is an industrial incentive of the Department of Information Technology, Electronics and Communications, Government of Goa. It was framed under clause 6.2.2 of the Goa Information Technology Policy–2018, which the state notified on 18 July 2018, and the scheme itself was ordered on 6 August 2018 and published in the Official Gazette, Series I No. 21, dated 23 August 2018.

The stated objective in the notification is short and specific: "To provide Lease Rental Subsidy to the eligible IT units in the State of Goa." Office rent in Panaji, Porvorim, Verna and the Goa IDC estates is one of the largest fixed costs for a small software or IT-enabled services firm, and the Government of Goa uses this scheme to bring that cost down for units that hire locally.

Lease Rental Subsidy Scheme is not a citizen benefit. No individual, student or household can apply. The applicant is always a business entity with operations inside Goa.

Who is eligible for the Lease Rental Subsidy Scheme?

A unit can claim if:

• The unit: new or existing; has its operations in Goa.
• The applicant is one of five permitted legal forms: a proprietorship firm, a private limited company or public limited company incorporated under the Companies Act 2013, a registered partnership firm under the Indian Partnership Act 1932, or a limited liability partnership under the LLP Act 2008.
• The bank accounts of the unit and of its partners or directors are linked to Aadhaar.
• The unit produces its Udyog Aadhaar. Clause 4.4 makes the benefit conditional on this.
• The unit has been operational for at least one year before the date of applying.
• The lease expenditure was incurred after the notification of the Goa IT Policy 2018. Older rent is not eligible.

A unit is not eligible if:

• The unit is already availing similar financial incentives under any other policy of the Government of Goa. Clause 4.8 rules out double-dipping.
• The promoters are Goan Diaspora setting up an IT unit in Goa, clause 4.5 redirects them to the separate Lease Rental Subsidy for Goan Diaspora scheme, where the rate differs.
• The claim relates to rent paid before the policy notification date.

Eligibility is not permanent. Clause 4.7 requires units to be re-evaluated at the end of each fiscal year to verify whether they should continue receiving the subsidy.

How much does the Lease Rental Subsidy Scheme pay?

The headline rate is 50% of the annual lease rentals on built-up office space, for a period of two years. Where 30% or more of the employees on the rolls are women, the rate rises to 60%.

That amount is then adjusted by the proportion of employees of Goan origin or Goan graduates on the company's rolls:

An employee only counts towards this calculation if they have been on the rolls of the company for a minimum period of one year.

Two ceilings apply. For smaller business units the maximum benefit under the scheme is Rs 10 lakh. For mega and other business units, clause 4.10 states there is no cap.

The rebate applies equally where the built-up space is leased from GIDC or any other government agency. Separately, for units taking land from GIDC or a government agency, the upfront lease premium paid as per the stamp registration is reimbursed as per the payment made to the allotment agency, and the annual lease rentals paid to the allotment agency can also be claimed after one year of operation, again for two years.

How to apply for the Lease Rental Subsidy Scheme

1. Register the unit by submitting Part 1 of the Common Application Form (CAF) with the required set of documents to the Department of Information Technology, either by email or on the web portal. The department generates a unique registration number for the unit.
2. Incur the lease expenditure and keep the lease deed, rent receipts and, for land leases, the proof of upfront lease premium payment.
3. File the claim by submitting Part 2 of the Common Application Form together with the incentive-specific forms — Annexure 1, the Lease Rental Subsidy Form, and Annexure 2, the Declaration, to the Due Diligence Committee, again by email or on the web portal.
4. Complete Annexure 1 with the auto-generated registration number, whether the claim is for a land lease or a built-up area lease, the name and location of the leased premises, the annual lease rental paid, the area leased in square feet, any upfront lease premium paid, the period claimed and the amount eligible per the policy.
5. Upload the three claim documents, the lease deed or rental agreement, proof of payment of rent for the claim period, and, for land leases, proof of the upfront lease premium instalment being claimed.
6. Wait for the committee decision. The supported Committee is the sole competent authority to accept or reject a claim, and its decision is final and binding on the applicant.

A unit may file on a quarterly, half-yearly or annual basis after incurring the relevant expenditure, so a firm with tight cash flow can claim four times a year rather than waiting for the year end.

How long does the money take to arrive?

The notification publishes a fixed disbursement clock measured from the day the incentive application is received, shown in the table as day D:

If nothing has moved by D+30, the sensible step is to check whether the checklist scrutiny threw up a missing document rather than to file a fresh claim.

Why claims under this scheme get rejected

• No Udyog Aadhaar produced. Clause 4.4 is an absolute pre-condition.
• Bank accounts not Aadhaar-linked for the unit or for its partners and directors.
• Less than one year of operations at the date of applying, which fails clause 5.5.
• Rent paid before the IT Policy 2018 notification date, which is outside the eligible window under clause 4.6.
• A similar incentive already claimed under another Government of Goa policy, which triggers clause 4.8.
• Employees counted who have not completed 12 months on the rolls, which pushes the unit into a lower Goan-employment slab or out of the women-employee concession.
• Missing proof of payment. A lease deed alone does not prove rent was paid; the payment evidence is a separate checklist item.

What is the current status of this scheme?

Clause 1.2 of the notification says the scheme comes into force from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette and "shall remain in force for a period of 5 years from the date of notification". Publication was on 23 August 2018.

The Department of IT's live Policies and Schemes page currently lists the IT Policy 2018 schemes including the Internet Subsidy Scheme, Interest Subsidy Scheme for Smaller Business Units and the Lease Rental Rebate Scheme for Goan Diaspora, but does not list the general Lease Rental Subsidy Scheme separately. Startups in Goa are meanwhile served by a distinct lease rental subsidy of up to Rs 20 per square foot per month under the Startup Policy, capped at Rs 3 lakh a year.

Before committing to a lease on the strength of this subsidy, write to the department and ask for the operative notification and the current claim window. The scheme's own clause 4.11 warns that its provisions are not binding representations and that promissory estoppel will not apply against the government if a provision is not implemented.

Where to get help

• Startup and IT Promotion Cell helpline: 1800-233-5060
• Email: spc-dit.goa@gov.in
• Office: IT HUB, 2nd Floor, Altinho, Panaji, Goa 403001, open Monday to Friday, 10:00 am to 5:30 pm
• Scheme text: the full notification, Annexure 1 and Annexure 2 are printed in the Official Gazette Series I No. 21 dated 23 August 2018, hosted as ITPolicySchemes2018.pdf on goaonline.gov.in and startup.goa.gov.in

There is no application fee for this scheme, and no agent can secure a sanction on a unit's behalf, the supported Committee decides every claim on the documents.

How to check your Lease Rental Subsidy Scheme claim status

The Department of Information Technology, Electronics and Communications does not run a public claim-tracking dashboard for this scheme, so status checks are done directly with the department rather than through a self-service portal login.

1. Quote the registration number. Every follow-up should reference the unique registration number the department generated when Part 1 of the Common Application Form was submitted, not just the unit's name. Without it, staff have to search manually through the claim register.
2. Match your follow-up to the D+30/D+60 checkpoints. The notification's own disbursement clock runs application scrutiny by D+30 and committee approval by D+60. Calling or writing before D+30 rarely gets a useful answer because the checklist review has not finished; the more productive window is just after each checkpoint has passed.
3. Call the Startup and IT Promotion Cell helpline on 1800-233-5060 during office hours, Monday to Friday, 10:00 am to 5:30 pm, and ask specifically whether the checklist scrutiny flagged any missing document, since an incomplete claim can sit unprocessed without a formal rejection being issued.
4. Email spc-dit.goa@gov.in if the helpline cannot resolve it, with the registration number and the date Part 2 (the claim) was filed. A written email also creates a record that the follow-up was made, which matters given clause 4.11's caution that scheme provisions are not binding representations.
5. Visit the IT HUB office at Altinho, Panaji, in person for claims that have crossed D+60 without a decision, since the Due Diligence Committee is the sole authority that can confirm whether a claim has been approved, rejected, or is still pending additional scrutiny.
6. Expect one of two written outcomes, a regret letter if the claim is rejected or a sanction order followed by disbursement if it is approved, both of which the notification places at D+90. Neither outcome is communicated informally, so a unit should not treat silence past D+90 as either approval or rejection and should escalate through the helpline or email instead.