Dramatic and high-impact measures have been initiated, which will lead to a revolution in the next 3-4 years said Mr Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communication and Information Technology, at the session on Sunrise Sectors for Services Exports at the Services Conclave: Promoting Services Exports from India – Challenges, Opportunities and Issues organized by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India and the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi.
He spoke of steps taken in two broad areas – infrastructure and human resources – which would have far-reaching consequences. For instance, he said, once the fibre optic network is laid out, dissemination will undergo a dramatic change. Similarly, expanding the curriculum for education and skilling manpower to create a skilled workforce of 500 million by 2022 will boost the services sector, and thereby the Indian economy. He stressed on the need to nurture the Services sector, calling it the backbone of the Indian economy since it accounts for 65% of the country’s GDP.
Industry, academia and Government need to work together to understand the challenges that the sector faces and find solutions. For instance, with low-cost outsourcing moving to countries such as Malaysia, we need to strengthen the domestic market and look at Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities within India. Simultaneously, the focus should also be on creating competitiveness through policy and other measures to strengthen the sector. He spoke of measures such as the STPI scheme, the Software Technology Parks, the first of which will be operational in Punjab very soon, which will give a boost to the sector. He also mentioned that by 2015-2016, India will be manufacturing chips. The focus, he said, should be on innovation and increasing competitiveness to give a boost to the sector and the Indian economy.
Earlier, Dr Anupam Khanna, Chief Economist and Director – General (Policy Outreach), NASSCOM, traced the evolution of the IT and ITeS sector, saying it had grown in revenue terms from USD 100 million in 1992 to about USD 120 billion now and how India has emerged as a preferred destination because of its talent pool and competitiveness. He said there is tremendous potential now, with several companies across the world looking at outsourcing and India must take advantage of the opportunities opening up. To go to the next level the focus should be on improving the business environment, broadening the role of this industry in the economy and society, supporting SMEs and start-ups among other measures.
Mr Ashish Kulkarni, CEO, Reliance Animation India Pvt Ltd, said that in the three stages of work in animation – pre production, production, and post production, typically production has always been outsourced to countries within Asia, such as Hong Kong. While India has great story-telling skills and the basic talent, there is a pressing need for trained/skilled manpower to tell stories in a format and manner that the world consumes. He also urged a relook at various policies to enable mutually beneficial co-production treaties with other countries so that more production work could also come to India.
Mr Nalin Kohli, Chairman – Vision Committee, Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) & Chairman and CEO, Araina Enterprises Pvt Ltd, stressed on the need to identify gaps and needs of the global market and skill manpower appropriately to meet those needs. India could become a hub for repair work, and should prepare skilled manpower and a conducive ecosystem by way of customs laws to achieve that position.
Dr Rajat Kathuria, Director and Chief Executive, ICRIER, said that there is a change in mindset and the services sector could drive exports. He said the focus should be on capturing data in order to make informed policy decisions to boost exports, and creating a more nuanced industry policy to give a boost to this sector.
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