India can Marry Age Dividend and Skill Development for Global Leadership in Services Exports: Commerce Secretary

India's demographics coupled with its strong push for skill development can impart it global leadership in services exports, said Smt Rita Teaotia, Commerce Secretary, at the close of the Global Exhibition on Services (GES). The GES was organised by the Department of Commerce in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Services Export Promotion Council.

Ms Teaotia said that India has submitted the framework document for trade facilitation of services trade with WTO. This would enable countries to plan and grow their services sectors, opening new avenues for trade beyond merchandise exports.

The Commerce Secretary emphasized that India offers both breadth and depth in its services exports, with high quality services at competitive costs. The GES has emerged as a powerful platform as one of the few exhibitions showcasing services sectors in the world.

Mr. Anup Wadhawan, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, noted that GES is growing from strength to strength with increasing domestic and international stakeholders.

Mr Sudhanshu Pandey, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, observed that 24 Indian states participated in GES bringing international and domestic buyers of services to interact with State Governments and enter into MoUs.

He shared that Media & Entertainment and Tourism were key sectors with 35 MOUs signed.

Ms. Shobana Kamineni, President Designate, CII, said that 62% of Indian GDP is contributed by the services sector. A recent trend is that traditional manufacturing is becoming a hybrid, adding services into its core activity. While Indian software services are leading the outsourcing markets internationally, other sectors including Media and entertainment, healthcare, tourism sectors are also key sectors of interest.

Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII noted that GES has now become an internationally recognised platform, with more than 5,000 B2B meetings.

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