WHAT ARE SERVICES?
"Services"
as defined in the Exim Policy in Para 9.46 include all the tradable
services covered under the General Agreement on Trade in Services
and earning free foreign exchange. Similarly, " Service providers"
have been defined in Para 9.47. List of services has also been
included in Appendix 36 of the Handbook which is based on the
General Agreement on Trade in Services. "Having said this,
I must admit that we have not yet put in place a system for collecting
reliable statistics for export of services. This will engage our
attention on a priority basis. Since there is no uniform standard
in the world for this purpose, we have decided to set up a Group
consisting of representatives of Department of Commerce, Central
Statistical Organization, RBI, DGFT and Director General of Commercial
Intelligence and Statistics, Kolkata, to consider all aspects
of this issue and recommend to the Government a system for collection
and maintenance of data relating to export of services. Till such
a system is finalised and put in operation, we propose to base
the implementation of the Scheme of promotion of services exports
on free foreign exchange earned by any of the service providers
listed in the Handbook", Shri Arun Jaitley, Union Minister
of Commerce & Industry and Law & Justice said while announcing
the EXIM Policy here today.
