Piyush Goyal assures full support to IT industry for accelerating services exports to $1Tn

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal assured full government support to leaders of India's top IT companies in pushing the growth of the sector and taking services exports to $1 trillion in a decade.

He said the country is on course to achieve its merchandise exports target of $400 billion this year, while services exports are likely to be about $240-250 billion. He also said the IT industry can make a big contribution to services exports by focusing on new technology and products that can make India a bigger global player in the sector.

In the virtual meeting, the minister told leaders of the IT industry that they should focus on high-tech products, for which the central government would provide any assistance needed by the industry. He suggested the industry to focus on high-tech products, for which the government would provide any assistance needed by the sector.

Goyal said businesses should identify the towns and the centre would assist them in providing all the necessary infrastructure and facilities. “We can converge $1 trillion. That should be the ambition, mission. You have a little bit of catching up to do. I'll be delighted if you cross $1 trillion faster than them.”

The virtual meeting was attended by Nasscom President Debjani Ghosh, Infosys CEO Salil Parekh, Tech Mahindra CEO & MD C.P. Gurnani, Fractal Analytics Co-Founder and CEO Srikanth Velamakanni, Mphasis CEO Nitin Rakesh, Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji, Genpact CEO N.V. Tyagrajan, President and Head of Business & Technology Services at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Krishnan Ramanujam, among others.