New Delhi: The Indian economy is driven by the services sector, the sector accounts for 54.3% of India’s Gross Value Added, and employs approximately 1/3rd of the nation’s population. The sector continues to attract the largest amount of FDI, with over 4/5th of the total FDI equity inflows being accounted for.
With the advent of COVID-19, the disruptions and interruptions in demand and supply across nations have caused rippling effects to the functionality of global supply chains in an ever-involving world. Every nations fundamental concern is to restart the economy by undertaking decisive measures that will help forge a “V” shaped pattern to their economic growth.
Against this, CII organized the India Services Conclave 2021, held between the 23-24 March, which provides a platform for all the stakeholders within the industry to converge creating a conducive and holistic environment. The tailwinds and opportunities presented to us are innumerable, and it will be pivotal towards redefining the Indian Services ecosystem.
Addressing the inaugural session of the CII India Services Conclave, Mr Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce & Industry; Railways; Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution stated that in this globalized world, we are looking at working together, expanding the boundaries of work, and CII through its various initiatives, presents to the world what India truly represents. As soon as the lockdown was initiated, we quickly reoriented our business practises in India.
India has undergone significant reform in several sectors and in a number of ways we have opened up our economy. We are looking at a self-reliant and a confident India. Against a USD 200 billion dollar digital ecosystem, we have a USD trillion dollar ambition. The way we are reorienting our competitive advantage in the digital space, we can achieve a USD 800 billion to USD 1 trillion economy very quickly. Digital services will contribute to ease of living, will help ease of consumer engagement and will help secure the digital infrastructure required for our international engagement. Our capacity and capability in digital technology is huge and they will determine our ability to compete with the rest of the world on cost competitiveness and differentiated products which will help the world expand in the digital space.
Uganda and India will mark 55 years of cordial bilateral relations at the end of the year stated Ms Amelia Kyambadde, Hon’ble Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Republic of Uganda. This cooperation has resulted into significant benefits that have advanced trade. Uganda has been beneficiaries of the India trade and investment for Africa program. India is one the major sources of import of Uganda for machinery, vehicles, plastic and chemical products and so forth. Over the last 10 years, Uganda’s services sector continues to grow and constitute 43.6% of the GDP with an export value of 2 billion dollars. I reiterate the need to strengthen Uganda-India bilateral trade, more particularly in digital services, IT enabled services, oil and gas, power generation, transport and connectivity infra, medical and pharma, property, finance, hospitality and tourism.
Mr Borge Brende, President, World Economic Forum expressed that the theme India future of digital services to the world is more relevant than ever. We have passed the one year mark of the pandemic, we have experienced a year that has reshaped our economies. Studies show in the early days of the pandemic, the world leaped ahead in the digital uptake of 5 years in 2 months. AI has projected to increase global GDP by 15% in this decade and 5G is expected to generate 13 trillion in global economic value and 20 million jobs by 2035. India has been a leader in advancing measures that support innovation, inclusion and investment. There is a clear reason India has the third largest startup ecosystem in the world, as they have made commitments to advance innovation.
The pandemic has brought the services sector at the centre and India’s march towards USD 5 trillion economy is going to be on the back of the services sector expressed Ms Shobana Kamineni, Past President, CII Chairperson, CII National Council on Services and Exe. Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals Group. During the pandemic, telemedicine has really showed the power of digital, and what the future of digital healthcare would be. The pandemic has given us an opportunity to reset and understand what would be the new worlds need. Our focus now needs to be on jobs and how to create them. The world moving to 5G and the collaboration between the government and private sector will be very important.
Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General , CII expressed that the COVID crisis has heightened the critical role of digital services in delivering critical services, and brought to the forefront the broader infrastructural role played by the services in economic development. The increased use of online services and the demand for such services is going up. Reviving services trade would be critical in recovering economic recovery. India has the potential to build its own brand of services for exports, with digital and digitization being the heart of the services sector
Comments are closed.