ComMin talks of ambitious reforms agenda to push services

The government is working on "an ambitious reforms agenda" to enhance competitiveness and promote quality services in the country, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday.

"To increase competitiveness through reforms and promote quality services, the department is working on an ambitious reforms agenda for services and this is being pursued through an inter-ministerial mechanism," she said. The minister was speaking at the inaugural function of the Global Exhibition on Services (GES) 2015.

Listing out other measures the ministry is taking to promote services exports, Sitharaman said India is negotiating trade agreements in services at multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral levels.

"As part of the focus strategy to promote services exports, the Department of Commerce has been taking a series of steps," she said. The ministry also organised services conclaves in 2013 and 2014 for augmenting exports and the potential thereof.

She said that in order to explore new geographies for services sector, the foreign trade policy has included measures consistent with the foreign policy "based on Look East, Link West, but Act East".

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Commerce and Industry Minister|GoI

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The minister underlined the need to diversify the export basket of the sector. These measures assume significance as the services sector contributes about 57 per cent to the country's GDP.

Services exports last year stood at USD 151.5 billion while imports came in at only USD 78.5 billion. India is looking to increase its exports in goods and services to USD 900 billion by 2019-20.

Speaking on the occasion, Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher said it will serve as a platform to enhance strategic cooperation and develop synergies between the players of the services sector in India with its global counterparts.

Some 60 countries participated in the 3-day GES, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. The themes in focus include IT & telecom, tourism, media & entertainment, healthcare, logistics, professional services, education, R&D, space and SME in services.