Huge potential in services sector: Goyal

The country's services sector has huge potential to generate job opportunities and push economic growth, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday. He suggested that the ministry, state and industry body CII can work on some kind of policies and enablers to push the growth of 12 champion sectors being identified by the government.

These sectors include accounting, finance, media, entertainment, information technology, health, legal, transport, and logistics. "I have made a suggestion that in the next 15-20 days if we can work out along with the states, some kind of policy or some kind of enablers which can help these various champion sectors grow and expand much faster and contribute in a much larger way," he said.

He was speaking at the curtain-raiser program of three-day Global Exhibition on Services (GES) 2019, to be held in Bengaluru from November 26 to 28. It will be organized by the ministry and the Confederation of India Industry (CII). He said the services sector has huge potential and it contributes in a significant way to the Indian economy.

But, "I do not think we have even reached the tip of the iceberg when it comes to getting the true benefits of this sector," he added. Talking about the Statue of Unity in Gujarat, he said that although some people criticized the government on this project, it has huge potential to generate economic activities around that region.

"My prediction is that Statue of Unity alone will create an ecosystem that can generate Rs 1 lakh crore (USD 15 billion) annually in and around that statue over the next 4-5 years," he added. Informing about the exhibition, joint secretary in the commerce ministry Darpan Jain said it would provide a platform to showcase opportunities that exist in the 12 sectors in India.

"It would also provide a platform to start-ups and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises). It aims to provide all the stakeholders an opportunity to exhibit opportunities," Jain said. Speaking at the function, additional secretary in the commerce ministry Sudhanshu Pandey said there is a perception that developing countries create barriers for trade in services.

He said the ministry has commenced a study on this and has come out with a report. Its findings have shown that it was some developed countries that create barriers, he said adding that the report will soon be put in the public domain for comments and views.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)