New Delhi, May 16 (KNN) The President of India Ram Nath Kovind has launched 12 Champion service sectors calling it a bold new step that will contribute to both India’s economy as well as the global economy, and will also create jobs.

He launched the 12 Champion sectors during the inauguration of 4th edition of Global Exhibition on Services in Mumbai on Tuesday.

As many as 500 international delegates attended this exhibition from around 100 countries.

The President commended the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Government of India and the Government of Maharashtra, as well as their industry partners for this initiative.

He said that the services sector represents a vibrant and expanding component of the global economy and dominates in terms of employment, value addition, productivity and innovation.

Highlighting the role and importance of Service sector in the growth and development of economy, President said “the pace of technology is intensifying the contribution of services in other sectors – including agriculture, infrastructure and manufacturing. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Services forms the backbone of the 21st century global economy.”

With its 61 percent contribution in GDP, India has natural advantages in the sector and is set to become even more provider of services to the World.

India’s global services exports stood at 3.4 per cent in 2016 and the target is a 4.2 per cent share of global services by 2022, he added.

“By 2025, only seven years from now, India hopes to double the size of its GDP to USD 5 trillion”, he said.

In addition to this the President said that the early Industrial Age and the traditional manufacturing economy created jobs in factories, and encouraged entrepreneurship in the form of ancillary units and workshops.

But, today, we are looking at small but exciting start-ups in the services space. Technology has emerged as an enormous enabler and allowed local services companies to go national or even global, he mentioned.

Appreciating  Government of India efforts and initiatives in this direction, the President added that the government programs and initiatives like ease of doing business has enabled India to jump 42 spots, in the past three years, in the World Bank Ease of Business rankings.