Services export down 4% to $12 bn in November
India’s services exports fell by 3.8% to $12.01 billion in November 2015 over the corresponding month of 2014, according to the RBI data on International Trade in Services. In October 2015, the accumulative services exports stood at $13.34 billion. Import of services too fell by 7.6% to $5.69 billion during the month as compared to that of November 2014. Total imports during October 2015 were $7.01 billion. The services sector contributes an average 55% to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). “Monthly data on services are provisional and would undergo revision when the Balance of Payments (BoP) data are released on a quarterly basis,” the RBI said in a statement. However, the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said that the present data is inadequate in many aspects. “Since there is a little voluntary compliance of reporting of trade statistics relating to export/import of services, data reporting system needs a major improvement,” DGFT said in a statement. “Therefore, the Department of Commerce through DGCI&S is undertaking an exercise of collection of data/statistics relating to import and export of services,” it said. The DGFT also insisted that the Importer Exporter Code (IEC), which is currently given to the merchandise traders, should be given to the services trade exporters as the government is unable to collect services trade data effectively. India is also expected to pitch for a trade facilitation agreement (TFA) in services at the WTO meeting this year. It is already pushing for a comprehensive trade pact in the services sector in the ongoing FTA negotiations with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) members and the European Union.
January 16, 2015 | 1:45pm IST.
to success.