The services sector in India contributed 61 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to a report launched at the Global Exhibition on Services (GES) on Wednesday.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-KPMG report – The Indian Services Sector: Poised for global ascendancy – found that India’s services sector has been growing at 10 per cent per annum, the fastest growing in the world.

“India’s share in global services exports was 3.2 per cent in 2014-15, double that of its merchandise exports in global merchandise exports at 1.7 per cent, placing India in the eighth place currently amongst the top 10 exporters of services in the world,” the report said.

The report expects that information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) industry, one of the largest employers in India with 3.7 million people, will touch $143 billion during the ongoing fiscal, rising from $132 billion – an 8.5 per cent growth.

Further, the report estimates that the tourism sector would grow to $259 billion by 2025 to account for about 7.6 per cent of the GDP. India, which received 7.8 million foreign tourists in 2015, saw revenues of $109.6 billion during the year from domestic and foreign tourists.

Meanwhile, healthcare is expected to grow leaps and bounds to touch $160 billion by next year and $280 billion in just four years at 2020. The sector, according to the report, accounts for 4.2 per cent of the GDP. The entertainment industry, another fast-growing sector, is expected to post 14 per cent annual growth between 2014 and 2019 to touch $33 billion.

Rajat Wahi, Partner and Head, Consumer Markets, KPMG India, said, “Technology, innovation and creativity are rapidly redefining the global economy with digitisation collapsing distances and transcending borders. In the process, the impact of the services sector is turning out to be manifold and significant. India has pride of place as the fastest-growing service sector nation globally.

“To keep the momentum going, it is critical that stakeholders, investors and policy-makers are best equipped in strategising for the future and tapping the best markets globally.”

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