Union minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said that India is poised to achieve services export target of $1 trillion by 2030. Speaking at the ‘Services Export Promotion Council – Global Services Conclave 2021” in New Delhi, the Union minister of commerce and industry said that the services sector is a key driver of India’s economic growth since not only does it provide employment to nearly 2.6 crore people, it also contributes approximately 40% to India’s total global exports.
The theme of the conclave was ‘India Serves: Exploring Potential Growth Sectors Beyond IT/ITes’.
Goyal said that the trade surplus in the services sector was $89 billion in the financial year 2020-21 and it has been the largest FDI recipient.
The minister also lauded India’s commitment to enabling ‘work from home’ during the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, saying the services sector showed “immense resilience”, especially when it remained depressed in other countries. Earlier this year, the labour ministry formalised work from home and prepared separate model standing orders for the first time for the services sector.
“Sectors like tourism, hospitality, etc. which suffered due to Covid-19, showing revival signs” he added.
Emphasising India’s potential to become the top services exporter globally, he added that the services sector is boosting the country’s transition from an “Assembly economy” to a “Knowledge-based economy”. The minister listed higher education as a crucial sector that can catapult India’s services sector on a high growth trajectory.
Quoting former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Goyal said that “our aim may be as high as the endless sky, but we should have a resolve in our minds to walk ahead, hand-in-hand for victory will be ours”.