In his addressing at the ‘Services Export Promotion Council- Global Services Conclave 2021’ in New Delhi, he said the services are a key driver of India’s economic growth.

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

The theme of the Global Services Conclave 2021 was ‘India Serves: Exploring Potential Growth Sectors Beyond IT/ITes’. Emphasising that the service sector is India’s competitive advantage, powered by skills, start-ups and IT solutions, the minister said that today, Indian services have the twin power of universal acceptance and universal attraction. Lauding India’s commitment to enable work from home during the pandemic, Goyal said 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 said 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.

Emphasising that India had the potential to become the top services exporter in the world, Goyal said Services is boosting India’s transition from an Assembly economy to a knowledge-based one. Global sentiments are changing from “Why India” to “Serve the world from India,” he said.

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