The services sector has continued its robust performance. Driven by domestic as well as foreign demand, the HSBC final India Services PMI came in at 60.8 in April. In the previous month, the index had stood at 61.2, but the April figure is higher than February’s 60.6, and in fact, it is good to see that the sector has been registering growth since August 2021, consistently remaining above the 50-mark, which indicates growth rather than contraction.

A recent report by global investment banking major Goldman Sachs rightly points out that in the last few years the Indian services sector has acquired a new dimension by diversifying its portfolio and increasing its global footprint. It points out that while global services exports tripled over 18 years, India's services exports grew at twice the pace to reach nearly $340 billion last year. The country’s share in global services outflows was under 2% and now it stands at 4.6% in 2023.

The government has set a target $1 trillion by 2030 for services exports. This sounds ambitious, and to achieve this India must sustain the services success story, which in turn, requires taking a calibrated approach. There must be efforts to increase market access, push regulatory ease and help our entrepreneurs jump into the bandwagon of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain applications.

Meanwhile, according to data released last week, the HSBC final Manufacturing PMI recorded at 58.8 in April. This is bit lower than the 16-year high of 59.1 for March, but still quite encouraging, with the index now showing a rising trend for 34 consecutive months. But again, the government must continue straining its every nerve to sustain the growth story, with focus on sunrise sectors such as semiconductors, electronics manufacturing, renewable energy, etc.

I invite your opinions.