Services sector should aim to exceed merchandise exports next fiscal: Goyal

India's services exports are registering healthy growth rates and the sector should aspire to reach $450 billion in exports, overtaking merchandise shipments, in the next financial year, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.

The goods trade is facing headwinds in the current global situation, he added.

The services sector should be targeting $450 billion in exports in 2025-26 and about $385-390 billion this fiscal, he said here while addressing the Inaugural Session of Nasscom Global Confluence 2025.

"You should overtake merchandise exports next year," Goyal said, adding that "as I see the figures coming in, and the growth has been scorching in the services side".

In 2023-24, the services exports stood at $341 billion, an increase of 4.85 per cent over the previous year.

In April-February 2024-25, the services exports increased 14.1 per cent to $354.9 billion.

On the other hand, goods exports contracted 3.1 per cent year-on-year to $437 billion in 2023-24. This year in April-February, the goods exports were up 0.06 per cent at $395.6 billion.

"We should aspire for much more aggressive targets," he added.

The minister also said that achieving 15-18 per cent growth in services exports is feasible as newer technologies get introduced and a greater number of Global Capability Centres of multinational companies open up in the country.

Goyal said at last count the number of GCCs operating in India hit 1,650.

He said that while information technology and information technology-enabled services account for $200 billion of total services exports, other growth areas for services like tourism, accounting and financial services are coming back in a big way.

Goyal, however, said the IT and ITeS will have to remain at the forefront.

He said because of the learnings during Covid while delivering services remotely, the complaints over the non-availability of enough H1B visas are hardly heard.

The minister said he would still prefer that more and more services be delivered from remote locations and not from client locations as it would add to the competitiveness of the services by reducing costs.

Another benefit of delivery from home would be that salaries are paid in India. Taxes on salaries will also be collected in India and will boost the economy.