SERVICES EXPORTS JUMP ALL-TIME HIGH AT $254.4 BN IN FY22

India’s services exports surged an all-time high at $254.4 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, which also saw record monthly high in the last month of FY-22 at $26.9 billion despite disruptions in tourism, hospitality and aviation due to Covid-19 besides crumbling of the global supply chain amid the Ukraine crisis.

“The new record achieved in 2021-22 beats the previous high of $213.2 billion in 2019-20,” a commerce ministry statement said, citing provisional data. India has also reported record merchandise exports at $421.8 billion in 2021-22, as per official data. India’s overall exports — services and merchandise — hit $676.2 billion in 2021-22, it said. The country’s overall exports were $526.6 billion and $497.9 billion in 2019-20 (non-pandemic year) and 2020-21, respectively.

Sectors such as telecommunications, computer, and IT services, other business services and transport are the top contributors in services exports, the ministry said, citing sectoral data for April-december 2021.

“It is a remarkable achievement by the services sector as we crossed the $254 billion mark despite tourism, hospitality and aviation services largely remain adversely impacted due to Covidrelated restrictions in the last fiscal. With the pandemic under control pushing Mode 2 of services and focus on IT and digitisation, we should aim at $350 billion in 2022-23,” said Ajay Sahai, director general and chief executive of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), an industry body.