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 Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said that India is poised to achieve services export target of $1 trillion by 2030.

In his addressing at the 'Services Export Promotion Council- Global Services Conclave 2021' in New Delhi, he said that the services are a key driver of India's economic growth.

Goyal said that services sector provides employment to nearly 2.6 crore people and contributes to approximately 40 per cent of India's total global exports. He also said that services trade surplus was $89 billion in FY 2020-21 and has been the largest FDI recipient (53 per cent of FDI inflows 2000-2021).

The theme of the Global Services Conclave 2021 was 'India Serves: Exploring Potential Growth Sectors Beyond IT/ITes'.

Emphasising that the service sector is India's competitive advantage, powered by skills, start-ups and IT solutions, the minister said that today, Indian services have the twin power of universal acceptance and universal attraction.

Lauding India's commitment to enable work from home during the pandemic, Goyal said that while services trade remained depressed in other countries, India's services sector showed immense resilience .

"Sectors like tourism, hospitality, etc. which suffered due to Covid-19, showing revival signs," he added.

Appreciating the spirit that led to rise through the tough times faced by the sector, Goyal said that tough times don't last, but tough people do. He expressed his admiration for the selfless service of all frontline workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The minister said that in 2020, India became the 7th largest services exporter in the world, moving up the ladder by two positions. Services PMI rose to a decade high of 58.4 in October 2021.

Emphasising that India had the potential to become the top services exporter in the world, Goyal said that Services is boosting India's transition from an Assembly economy to a knowledge based economy.

Global sentiments are changing from "Why India" to "Serve the world from India", he said.

Observing that India has transformed from being the 'Back office' to the 'Brain office' of the world, Goyal said that Microsoft, Google etc. call India "A home away from home" as they have the biggest offices outside US in India.