THE FORCE MULTIPLIERS

The services sector has been instrumental in powering India's growth in the past two decades, including in exports

- Shwweta Punj

The growth in the services sector largely began after the reforms of 1991. Liberalisation, removal of FDI restrictions, easier approvals and so on led to the sector's growth broadly classified under the following categories—information and communication, financial and insurance sectors, education, arts and entertainment, real estate etc. In the 1950s, the sector’s share in India’s GDP was about 29 per cent, accelerating to over 30 per cent in the ’60s and ’70s and increasing to over 53 per cent by the 2000s. India has also emerged as one of the top services exporter countries, increasing its share from 0.6 per cent in 1991 to 4.6 per cent in 2020. Between 1980 and 2010, India’s share in the global services sector increa