India eyes to achieve Services Export target of $1 trillion by 2030: Piyush Goyal

Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, said on Tuesday that at present India is poised to achieve services export target of $1 trillion by 2030. He further added that the services are boosting India’s transition from an Assembly economy to a Knowledge based economy.

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While addressing the gathering at the at the 'Services Export Promotion Council- Global Services Conclave 2021' in New Delhi, Goyal pointed out that services are a key driver of India’s economic growth. He also claimed that India has transformed from being the ‘Back office’ to the ‘Brain office’ of the world.

As per the press release from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the theme of the Global Services Conclave 2021 was India Serves: Exploring Potential Growth Sectors Beyond IT/ITes'.

Goyal informed that services sector provides employment to nearly 2.6 crore people and contributes approximately 40 per cent to India’s total global exports. He further added that Services trade surplus was $89 billion in FY 2020-21 and it has been the largest FDI recipient (53 per cent of FDI inflows 2000-2021).

Lauding India's commitment to enable ‘work from Home’ during the pandemic, Goyal said that while services trade remained depressed in other countries, India’s services sector showed immense resilience ."Sectors like tourism, hospitality, etc. which suffered due to COVID-19, showing revival signs" he added.

The minister also pointed out that in 2020, India became the 7th largest services exporter in the world, moving up the ladder by two positions. Services PMI rose to a decade high of 58.4 in October 2021, he said. Again, emphasizing on the fact that India had the potential to become the top services exporter in the world, Goyal said that Services is boosting India’s transition from an Assembly economy to a Knowledge based economy.

Observing that India has transformed from being the ‘Back office’ to the ‘Brain office’ of the world, the Minister said that Microsoft, Google and other companies call India “A home away from home” as the have the biggest offices outside US in India.

As per Goyal, India’s Services export largely comprise of IT/ITes and stressed the need to focus on other potential growth sectors. India’s IT (Inherent Talent) will help expand reach of India’s service sector far beyond the IT services, he said.

The Minister listed certain crucial sectors which can catapult India’s services sector on a high growth trajectory such as higher Education. He spoke of the massive potential for online training courses, language courses, the horizons of which have been further expanded by the New Education Policy.

Speaking of the Tourism and Hospitality sector, Goyal said that in FY20, tourism sector accounted for 39 million jobs, 8 per cent of the total employment.

He also outlined possible new initiatives to boost tourism sector such as development of new innovative bundle tour packages and said that hospitality industry has big potential and many developed countries can take a lesson or two from India.

In the field of healthcare, the Minister said that India is the 2nd largest supplier of nurses to OECD, Gulf countries and Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia. He spoke of the need to establish more nursing institutions in other states.

Piyush Goyal said that the Government as a facilitator and enabler helped Indian Services to grow and touch lives across the globe. He emphasized that Zero Government interference has enabled IT sector to excel. He appreciated the sector for not pursing incentives but standing on its competitive strength.