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India’s services sector has remained resolute and on a steady rise. According to a recent report published by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and KPMG, India has moved up to become the fastest growing service economy in the world. The services sector is a dominant sector in India’s GDP, with attractive foreign investment flows and contributing significantly to exports. The Indian services sector has attracted the highest amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows.
We have witnessed good revenue generation with growing sectoral activities across trade, tourism, healthcare, transport, communications, information technology, finance, insurance, real estate, business services, social and personal services. The factors leading to this rapid rise are obvious. Increasing purchasing power, rising social mobility and digital penetration to rural markets are creating a spurt in demand for the services sector in India.
India has moved up to become the fastest growing service economy in the world.
The contribution of the services sector has increased very rapidly in India’s GDP, with many foreign consumers showing interest in the country’s service exports. This is attributed largely to our country’s pool of highly skilled, low cost and educated manpower. Foreign companies are outsourcing their work to India especially in the area of business services, including business process outsourcing and information technology services. This has given a major boost to the services sector in India, which in turn has increased the services share in the GDP pie.
The Government of India recognizes the importance of promoting growth in this area and is creating an enabling environment that will give a further push to sectors such as healthcare, tourism, communications, information technology, among others. An encouraging regulatory framework and an easing of trade barriers at both domestic and international levels through agreements will only enhance India’s competitiveness at a global level. This will also mean an increase in the quality of employment and not just numbers. This will lead to a quality labour force for the country.
The multiplier effect on ancillary industries owing to the growth in the services sector is a natural outcome. For instance, a spurt in tourist arrivals into India will not only positively impact the hotel and airlines industries but also boost the sale of crafts and artefacts that can be showcased as part of integrated business plans between stakeholders, both private and public. The regulatory framework also needs to take into account the evolving nature of the services sector, and how it’s interlinked with other sectors.
India’s services sector, while generating high income, is still low on generating employment as per the ILO’s Global Employment Trends 2016. However, the Indian healthcare sector has grown to become one of the largest sectors in the services industry in terms of both revenue and employment generation. Healthcare essentially comprises hospitals, medical devices, clinical trials, outsourcing, telemedicine, medical tourism, health insurance and medical equipment. This sector in India is growing at a brisk pace due to its increasing coverage, services and growing investments by public as well as private players. Due to the diverse range of medical services, this sector impacts tertiary industries by virtue of indirect employment to healthcare professionals such as nurses, residential associates and medical assistants.
The contribution of the services sector has increased very rapidly in India’s GDP, with many foreign consumers showing interest in the country’s service exports.
The government is taking conscious steps to engage with other nations to give a further fillip to the services sector. India has signed comprehensive bilateral agreements with the Governments of Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Malaysia. A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in services and investment was also signed with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
With the right regulatory and policy framework and creating a climate that will ease the way of doing business, this industry can leapfrog to achieve substantial growth. Significant efforts in this direction are already underway. The first ever Global Exhibition on Services (GES), inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi, was held in April 2015 in New Delhi, providing a platform for all the participants, delegates, business visitors and other key decision-makers from the services industry and other related industries to interact with each other, and explore new business avenues. The success of GES resulted in a second edition that took place in April this last year — it focused on the services sector of the world economy and provided a platform to discuss and debate the future of our nation’s services industry.
India’s services sector is advancing rapidly and is now poised for a bigger slice of India’s GDP. This is no ordinary achievement for a country which is predominantly dependent on agriculture. The accomplishment is even more commendable against the backdrop of challenges such as policy changes, a fragile world economic environment and raising growth capital.
We need to amplify our presence manifold in sectors where onshore and non-off-shore services are valued such as travel, transportation, healthcare, education, communications and financial services. Services sector growth rate in India’s GDP has indeed registered a significant growth over the past few years and it is just getting started to diversify range of services it offers.
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- In the Large States category (overall), Chhattisgarh ranks 1st, followed by Odisha and Telangana, whereas, towards the bottom are Maharashtra at 16th, Assam at 17th and Gujarat at 18th. Gujarat is one State that has seen startling performance ranking 5th in the PAI 2021 Index outperforming traditionally good performing States like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, but ranks last in terms of Delta
- In the Small States category (overall), Nagaland tops, followed by Mizoram and Tripura. Towards the tail end of the overall Delta ranking is Uttarakhand (9th), Arunachal Pradesh (10th) and Meghalaya (11th). Nagaland despite being a poor performer in the PAI 2021 Index has come out to be the top performer in Delta, similarly, Mizoram’s performance in Delta is also reflected in it’s ranking in the PAI 2021 Index
- In terms of Equity, in the Large States category, Chhattisgarh has the best Delta rate on Equity indicators, this is also reflected in the performance of Chhattisgarh in the Equity Pillar where it ranks 4th. Following Chhattisgarh is Odisha ranking 2nd in Delta-Equity ranking, but ranks 17th in the Equity Pillar of PAI 2021. Telangana ranks 3rd in Delta-Equity ranking even though it is not a top performer in this Pillar in the overall PAI 2021 Index. Jharkhand (16th), Uttar Pradesh (17th) and Assam (18th) rank at the bottom with Uttar Pradesh’s performance in line with the PAI 2021 Index
- Odisha and Nagaland have shown the best year-on-year improvement under 12 Key Development indicators.
- In the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu and, the bottom three performers are Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar.
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers were Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Mizoram; and, the bottom three performers are Manipur, Assam and Meghalaya.
- Among the 60:40 division States, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are the top three performers and Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Delhi appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland; and, the bottom three performers are Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh
- Among the 60:40 division States, Goa, West Bengal and Delhi appear as the top three performers and Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Bihar appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh and Tripura were the top three performers and Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh were the bottom three performers
- West Bengal, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were the top three States amongst the 60:40 division States; while Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan appeared as the bottom three performers
- In the case of 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Assam and Tripura were the top three performers and Nagaland, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand featured as the bottom three
- Among the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa and the bottom three performers are Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Goa
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Mizoram, Sikkim and Nagaland and the bottom three performers are Manipur and Assam
In a diverse country like India, where each State is socially, culturally, economically, and politically distinct, measuring Governance becomes increasingly tricky. The Public Affairs Index (PAI 2021) is a scientifically rigorous, data-based framework that measures the quality of governance at the Sub-national level and ranks the States and Union Territories (UTs) of India on a Composite Index (CI).
States are classified into two categories – Large and Small – using population as the criteria.
In PAI 2021, PAC defined three significant pillars that embody Governance – Growth, Equity, and Sustainability. Each of the three Pillars is circumscribed by five governance praxis Themes.
The themes include – Voice and Accountability, Government Effectiveness, Rule of Law, Regulatory Quality and Control of Corruption.
At the bottom of the pyramid, 43 component indicators are mapped to 14 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are relevant to the States and UTs.
This forms the foundation of the conceptual framework of PAI 2021. The choice of the 43 indicators that go into the calculation of the CI were dictated by the objective of uncovering the complexity and multidimensional character of development governance
The Equity Principle
The Equity Pillar of the PAI 2021 Index analyses the inclusiveness impact at the Sub-national level in the country; inclusiveness in terms of the welfare of a society that depends primarily on establishing that all people feel that they have a say in the governance and are not excluded from the mainstream policy framework.
This requires all individuals and communities, but particularly the most vulnerable, to have an opportunity to improve or maintain their wellbeing. This chapter of PAI 2021 reflects the performance of States and UTs during the pandemic and questions the governance infrastructure in the country, analysing the effectiveness of schemes and the general livelihood of the people in terms of Equity.
Growth and its Discontents
Growth in its multidimensional form encompasses the essence of access to and the availability and optimal utilisation of resources. By resources, PAI 2021 refer to human resources, infrastructure and the budgetary allocations. Capacity building of an economy cannot take place if all the key players of growth do not drive development. The multiplier effects of better health care, improved educational outcomes, increased capital accumulation and lower unemployment levels contribute magnificently in the growth and development of the States.
The Pursuit Of Sustainability
The Sustainability Pillar analyses the access to and usage of resources that has an impact on environment, economy and humankind. The Pillar subsumes two themes and uses seven indicators to measure the effectiveness of government efforts with regards to Sustainability.
The Curious Case Of The Delta
The Delta Analysis presents the results on the State performance on year-on-year improvement. The rankings are measured as the Delta value over the last five to 10 years of data available for 12 Key Development Indicators (KDI). In PAI 2021, 12 indicators across the three Pillars of Equity (five indicators), Growth (five indicators) and Sustainability (two indicators). These KDIs are the outcome indicators crucial to assess Human Development. The Performance in the Delta Analysis is then compared to the Overall PAI 2021 Index.
Key Findings:-
In the Scheme of Things
The Scheme Analysis adds an additional dimension to ranking of the States on their governance. It attempts to complement the Governance Model by trying to understand the developmental activities undertaken by State Governments in the form of schemes. It also tries to understand whether better performance of States in schemes reflect in better governance.
The Centrally Sponsored schemes that were analysed are National Health Mission (NHM), Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services scheme (ICDS), Mahatma Gandh National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SmSA) and MidDay Meal Scheme (MDMS).
National Health Mission (NHM)
INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (ICDS)
MID- DAY MEAL SCHEME (MDMS)
SAMAGRA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (SMSA)
MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME (MGNREGS)