The Government is holding consultations on policy reforms in services sectors such as legal services, education services and health services.

“An inter-ministerial entity was constituted about a year and a half back for identifying and coordinating on reforms in various services areas. We are at a point now where we are rolling out consultations in the form of discussions by a committee of secretaries,” Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher said at a press conference on Tuesday. A Cabinet note will eventually be prepared by the CoS.

Kher said that in the area of legal services, an area so far fiercely protected by the Bar Council of India, a lot of consultations had already been generated.

“We are also looking at reforming education services and health-related services,” he said.

Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who briefed the media on the first `Global Exhibition in Services’ to be held in New Delhi in April, said that the three services sectors that the Commerce Secretary mentioned were the ones being looked at, at the moment, for reforms, but the BJP government can always be counted on for reforms.

The global services exhibition is an effort to create a global platform for increased trade in services, the Minsiter said.

GES will enhance strategic cooperation and develop synergies to strengthen multilateral relationships between all stakeholders, tap the potential for services’ exports and to increase FDI flow in the services sector.

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