Institutional Framework for Collection of Statistics on Trade in Services

Services sector is the largest contributor to Indias gross domestic product (GDP) and GDP growth. The share of services in international trade, foreign investment inflows and employment has increased over time. The share of Indias trade in services in its total trade is higher than the global average. Despite the growing importance of services sector to the Indian economy, the country does not have a robust institutional mechanism for collecting information on international trade in services. Non-availability of accurate database is a major hindrance towards framing appropriate policy for promoting services sector exports. In this context, the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), which has been mandated to develop a comprehensive database on Indias trade in services, engaged the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), to conduct pilot surveys of four services sectors namely: audiovisual, logistics, professional and telecommunications services; examine the institutional and regulatory framework of trade in services data collection in select countries and make policy recommendations. The findings of the pilot surveys along with the issues faced and the way forward are presented in this report. This report will provide the policymakers a roadmap to develop a robust institutional and regulatory framework for data collection on trade in services, learning from the global best practices. The report will help businesses to understand the countrys strengths in export of services and the key export markets. It will provide academics and sector experts a detailed analysis of trade in select services sector.