Govt to promote 12 top services sectors to boost exports: Prabhu

The government is working on a strategy to boost share of services exports, which will grow faster than merchandise exports raising the total exports from the country, said Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu.

“In the last few months, we are seeing exports registering growth. We are targeting to ensure that exports are not only traditional products, but new products are also added to the basket. We are focusing on services and have identified 12 services as ‘Champion Services’,” Prabhu said after inaugurating CapIndia event here.

He said that the government has already approved ₹5,000 crore to promote 12 champion services sectors such as IT, tourism and hospitality.

The decision, he said, will drive growth of the services economy in India. We have prepared an action plan for each of these sectors to promote them domestically as well as globally, the Minister said.

The services sector will play a significant role in pushing the country’s economic growth and the industry must focus on delivering services of global standards, he added.

Prabhu pointed out that the country’s chemical sector has huge growth potential and it needs to create capacity to meet exports demand.

The new industrial policy, which seeks to promote emerging sectors, will be released within a few months. The government will provide an enabling environment to the industry to increase the country’s exports, he said.