Services Exports Should Grow at Faster Pace to Offset Deficit in Merchandize Trade – Finance Minister

Mr. Arun Jaitley, Union Minister  for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information and Broadcasting  has said that the services exports from the country should grow faster to  offset  the deficit in the merchandize  trade.

While inaugurating the  Services Conclave 2014 today in New Delhi, the Finance Minister said that within the services sector “ we should focus on low lying fruits like tourism, research & development  education etc., where it is easier and quicker  to achieve results,” he added.

(L-R) Shri Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting and Mr Ajay S. Shriram, President, Confederation of Indian Industry at the Inaugural Session of the Services Conclave 2014

The Conclave is the joint initiative of  the Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry and CII. Over 250 stakeholders from various segments of services sector are attending the two-day event.

Mr Jaitley said that the services sector contributing close to 60 per cent of the GDP  could  be the driving force not only for exports but for generation of gainful employment. In this regard, he said that the manufacturing sector has shrunk its contribution to GDP to 15 per cent.  “Our effort is to increase its share  to 25 per cent to provide sustainable employment to the people,” he added.

Referring to the WTO negotiations which are at a standstill, the Finance Minister underscored that the definition of globalization has changed over the years.  “It is now consumer driven and no amount of patriotism and jingoism can drive the consumers to buy products.   They go for quality and price competitiveness”, he added.  The positions taken by various developed countries against Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in the case of IT and IT enabled services (ITeS) has fallen flat because the consumers wanted to have best products at affordable prices, he added.

“Make in India” campaign was evolved to make the Indian products more competitive in terms of quality and price, Mr Jaitley added. There are many issues that have to be addressed, such as labour reforms, facilitating capital flows,  strengthening of infrastructure  and trade facilitation measures.  He assured that the Government would address these issues in right earnest to enable different segments of industry to grow faster.

Mr Jaitley said that a few areas of services sector had to be identified and capabilities built around  them  to seize the emerging opportunities.  In this regard, he said that India could  emerge as a regional educational hub.  This not only would reverse the trend of Indian students going abroad for higher studies but also could attract students from developing countries to come to India. For this, the quality of education should be considerably enhanced and the objective should be to catch up with the best education institutions in the world.

The Finance Minister also referred to the huge potential India has in the health sector for attracting patients from other countries, who could undergo complex treatments at very affordable prices.  A competitive environment was important to upgrade the skills and expertise, he added.

Ms Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, said that the services sector in India had grown without much support from the Government. Some of the sectors like IT and ITeS, films, entertainment, professional service etc. had become world class.  The changes brought about in these segments were driven by the industry itself.  She wanted this trend to continue since there was a huge untapped potential in various segments of services sector, be it services for domestic consumption or exports.  The two day conclave, she hoped , could map the potential and identify strategies to tap them on a sustainable basis.

Mr Rajeev Kher, Union Commerce Secretary, said that India’s share in the world services exports was only 3 per cent as compared to EU’s share of 42 per cent and China’s 4 per cent.  “It is a huge challenge for us to increase our  share to the global services trade.  For this, all stakeholders should come together. Quality of services whether it is for domestic consumption or for exports should considerably go up.  The success of IT and ITeS should inspire us to aim high to reach higher orbit of growth in other sectors as well,” he said.

Mr Kher said that Department of Commerce would act as an anchor for permeating Rule based exports. Other ministries and organizations are also involved in the exercise. This would help achieve Indian exporters to penetrate into markets more aggressively.

Mr Ajay Shriram, President, CII, said that a reform agenda was imperative for enhancing the services exports for the country.  In this regard, skill development and laying of physical and digital infrastructure were important.  Services Trade Agreements both bilateral and multilateral also could help the services sector exports to grow faster.   He wanted earliest    signing of Totalization agreements with countries, where there are a large number of Indians working.

Mr Malvinder Mohan Singh, Chairman, CII Services Council, said that the services sector should grow faster from the present level of 9 per cent per annum to enable India to achieve 10 per cent growth in GDP in a given timeframe.  At this rate, the share of services sector to GDP would increase to 65 per cent.  Referring to the health sector, he cited the example of Singapore where it was empirically proved that one dollar investment would have a significant multiplier effect  on the community.  He underscored the need for creating a strong IT backbone  and a  regulatory mechanism.

Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, has referred to the initiatives of CII  in skilling people, particularly in the health sector.  This, he hoped, would plug the skill gap in the country.

CCRA Authorizing status to India will give a thrust to the Digital India agenda : R S Sharma, Secretary, DeitY

The recent recognition of India as an ‘Authorizing Nation’ for CCRA certification to test and certify Electronics and IT products with respect to cyber security will give a fillip to the digital agenda of the country, according to Mr R S Sharma, Secretary, Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India, who was speaking at the Inaugural Session of the 15^th International Common Critieria Conference (ICCC) organized here today.

(L-R) Mr N E Prasad, Director General, STQC Directorate, DeitY, Govt. of India; Mr Kiran Karnik, Chairman, CII National Committee on Telecom and Broadband; Mr R S Sharma, Secretary, Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Govt. of India; Dr Arvind Gupta, Deputy National Security Advisor, National Security Council Secretariat; Mr Dag Stroman, Chairperson, CCMC at the International Common Criteria Conference “Common Criteria: Meeting the Technology Challenges” on 9th September, 2014 at New Delhi.

Common Criteria assesses the design and implementation of security-sensitive products and provides assurance that the specification, implementation, and evaluation of each solution have been thoroughly analyzed. The 15^th ICCC was hosted by STQC, DeitY in partnership with CII.

The recognition will help to fast forward programs related to real time secured service delivery such as e-Governance, e-Commerce, financial inclusion schemes and citizen engagement platforms.

The authorization status will give  Indian electronics and IT manufacturing  Industry and Government a collaborative environment the prime minister’s vision of ‘Make in India’, Mr Sharma added.

Dr Arvind Gupta, Deputy National Security Advisor, who was the Guest of Honor at the Session added that the authorization status will help India become a hub for security assurance of IT services and products. Keeping pace with the rapid change in technology domain, building institutions to keep up with these changes, skilling human resource and creating and innovating the eco-system are the four key priorities for India,  to avail the opportunities in this space.

Building a broader cooperative network in which government and industry can interface on security matters becomes essential for setting benchmarks, becoming market ready and expediting knowledge transfer, according to Mr Kiran Karnik, Chairman, CII National Committee on Telecom and Broadband. He added that it also helps in bringing clarity to the broader standards landscape, helping industry identify the best of the standards that exist in the global marketplace.

The ICCC conference  comprise of Certification Bodies, Evaluation Laboratories, Researchers, Evaluators, Policy Makers, Product Developers, Sellers and Buyers across the globe, interested in the specification, development, evaluation, and certification of IT security said Mr N E Prasad, Director General, STQC in his opening remarks.

This first-ever conference in India brought together more than 250 cyber security experts from the government, academic, and industry representatives from around the world to learn more about this new developments in this international standard and how it can be effectively used to help build more secure information systems and technologies worldwide.