Services Sector

    • The Baltic Dry Index, the barometer of merchandise trade as well as shipping services, which had peaked to 11,793 on 20 May 2008 has been in the lower range since then and is in the red at 530 as on 13 February 2015.
    • There has also been a sharp decline in the share of Indian ships in the carriage of India’s overseas trade from about 40% in the late 1980s to 9.1% in 2012-13. The existing Indian fleet is also ageing, with the average age increasing from 15 years in 1999 to 7 as on 1 October 2014 (43.1% of the fleet is over 20 years old and 10.7% in the 16-19 age group).
    • The cargo traffic of Indian ports increased by 4.5% to 975.7 million tonnes in 2013-14 and by 6.8% in (April-December) 2014-15.
    • In the Maritime Agenda, a target of 3130 million tonnes (MT) port capacity has been set for the year 2020 with around `2,96,000 crore investment. FDI up to 100% under automatic route is permitted for construction and maintenance of ports.
    • As per AT Kearney’s Global Services Location Index 2014, India ranked first and remains the pre-eminent destination for offshore services, with excellence in IT, BPO, and voice services. The sector continues to be one of the largest employers in the country, directly employing nearly 3.5 million people as per the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM).
    • As per the Central Statistics Office (CSO), computer and related services with a share of 3.3% in India’s GDP grew by 4% in 2013-14.
    • As per NASSCOM’s estimate the revenue of the IT-BPM industry at US$119 billion grew by 12% in 2014-15, while the export market at US$ 98 billion grew by 12.3% over the previous year.
    • The year also witnessed hyper-growth in the technology start-up and software product landscape, India ranking as the fourth largest start-up hub in the world with over 3100 start-ups in the country.
    • Recognizing the need for greater penetration of IT services domestically, in Budget 2014-15 Digital India has been envisioned as an ambitious umbrella programme to prepare India for knowledge-based transformation. This would ensure broadband connectivity at village level, improved access to services through IT-enabled platforms, greater transparency in government processes and increased indigenous production of IT hardware and software.
    • One of the important components of this programme is people’s empowerment through availability of entitlements on the cloud, coupled with Aadhaar Authentification Platform.
    • A National Rural Internet and Technology Mission for services in villages and schools and E-Kranti for government service delivery are other initiatives. Recognizing the importance of IT, the government’s Make in India mission has included IT and BPM among the twenty-five focus sectors.