President inaugurates Global Exhibition on Services (GES-2017)

President has inaugurated Global Exhibition on Services (GES-2017) that is set to highlight India’s potential to boost its services exports across sectors at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida. The event has been organised by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry together with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Services Export Promotion Council. This is the 3rd edition of GES and the earlier editions were held in 2015 and 2016. This edition is set to see the participation of over 70 countries and comes in the backdrop of increased focus on services trade and India’s submission to the World Trade Organisation on trade facilitation in services.
The main focus of the event will be on 20 services sectors, including information technology, tourism and hospitality, logistics, education and financial services.
This year, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), will showcase its offering of application of space technology on a real-time basis for implementing and monitoring of public programmes. Besides, the Ministry of Tourism will host Incredible India Haat, a cuisine, culture and handicrafts show.

Objectives

• Position India as a leader in the services sector
• Tap potential for exports in the services sector
• Draw investments into the country in the services sector

Service sector

India’s services exports stood at $146.5 billion in the first 11 months of 2016-17, growing at 3 per cent. It has witnessed a surplus of $59 billion in April-February 2016-17. In India, IT and software services accounted for over 48% of overall services exports. As per provisional estimates released by RBI, the service export touched US $ 80 billion as against US $ 77 billion in the time period from April to September 2016, a rise of almost 4%. A strong services sector backed by a manufacturing sector is expected to play a pivotal role in the growth of Indian economy.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2017