Services a key growth driver of Indian economy: President

New Delhi, April 17 (IANS) President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said India's services sector has been a key growth driver of its economy.

Inaugurating the third edition of the Global Exhibition on Services (GES-2017) at Rashtrapati Bhavan, he said that India can be a key partner for emerging services such as facilities management, event and exhibition, urban infrastructure and environmental services.

The President said many of these services can be delivered from India to offshore locations, helping large cities manage their facilities optimally, facilitating hospitals in maintaining medical records or providing geospatial information.

He said that the services sector contributes the lion's share of India's GDP and represents its fastest-growing sector.

"While India has emerged as the fastest-growing large economy in the world, its services sector outpaces its GDP growth rate and has been its key growth driver. India's share in global services exports has increased to 3.3 per cent in 2015. Our services exports are helping global businesses build their productivity and competitiveness, and are supporting jobs across the world," he said.

The President noted that the global exhibition embraces 20 vital services sectors for special focus.

"While some of the services are traditional ones such as tourism and hospitality and retail, many of the focus sectors are new to India and the world, including space services, sports services and wellness services," he said.

The President said that services trade is increasingly viewed as an instrument to create jobs, drive national growth and foster exchange of ideas, knowledge and technology and also contributes significantly to trade in goods including through supply chains and e-commerce.

Trade in services can bring new benefits to the global economy at a time global merchandise trade is slowing down, he added.