By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, APR 17, 2017: PRESIDENT of India Pranab Mukherjee is slated to inaugurate the Global Exhibition on Services (GES) today for the second consecutive year. The third edition of the GES held by the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, together with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC), comes in the backdrop of increased focus on services trade and India’s submission to WTO on Trade Facilitation in Services.

GES 2015, the first edition, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

The 4-day event, to be held from 17-20 April at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida, is one of the few trade exhibitions for services and highlights India’s potential to boost its services exports across sectors. Shri Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance, Defence and Corporate Affairs, would also address the inaugural session to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Ms Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce and Industries, will be guiding the overall GES. Other prominent ministers from relevant line ministries are expected to grace the occasion.

Six Ministers from different countries are participating at the GES.

GES 2017 brings together 550 exhibitors from 70-plus countries. More than 20,000 visitors are expected to attend the exhibition. The Exhibition will see over 5,000 business meetings and deliberations at more than 30 seminars.

While the GES covers 20 key services sectors such as IT and BPM, tourism and hospitality, logistics, education and financial services, a unique feature of the third edition is its emphasis on new and unconventional services sectors such as Space, Sports, Next-Gen Cities, and Startups and MSME in services. This is a big jump from 10 sectors covered in GES 2015. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which recently won laurels for placing 104 satellites on a single launch, will also showcase its offerings regarding application of Space Technology for implementing and monitoring of public programmes on real time basis.

The Ministry of Tourism is hosting the Incredible India Haat – A Cuisine, Culture and Handicrafts Show at the GES, and the event also includes Animation and Post Production Film Festival.

India’s services exports increased from USD 52 billion in 2005 to USD 155 billion in 2015, with a share of 3.3% in global services exports. In the first 11 months of 2016-17, services exports stood at USD 146.5 billion, growing at 3%. India’s services trade witnessed a surplus of USD 59 billion in Apr-Feb 2016-17 with imports rising 12.1% to USD 87 billion. IT and software services contribute over 48% of India’s overall services exports with a leading position in the world.