Service Sector
Service Sector in India today accounts for more than half of India's GDP. According to data for the financial year 2006-2007, the share of services, industry, and agriculture in India's GDP is 55.1 per cent, 26.4 per cent, and 18.5 per cent respectively. The fact that the service sector now accounts for more than half the GDP marks a watershed in the evolution of the Indian economy and takes it closer to the fundamentals of a developed economy.

Services or the "tertiary sector" of the economy covers a wide gamut of activities like trading, banking & finance, infotainment, real estate, transportation, security, management & technical consultancy among several others. The various sectors that combine together to constitute service industry in India are:
  • Trade
  • Hotels and Restaurants
  • Railways
  • Other Transport & Storage
  • Communication (Post, Telecom)
  • Banking
  • Insurance
  • Dwellings,
  • Real Estate
  • Business Services
  • Public Administration;
  • Defence
  • Personal Services
  • Community Services
  • Other Services
There was marked acceleration in services sector growth in the eighties and nineties, especially in the nineties. While the share of services in India's GDP increased by 21 per cent points in the 50 years between 1950 and 2000, nearly 40 per cent of that increase was concentrated in the nineties. While almost all service sectors participated in this boom, growth was fastest in communications, banking, hotels and restaurants, community services, trade and business services. One of the reasons for the sudden growth in the services sector in India in the nineties was the liberalization in the regulatory framework that gave rise to innovation and higher exports from the services sector.

The boom in the services sector has been relatively "jobless". The rise in services share in GDP has not accompanied by proportionate increase in the sector's share of national employment. Some economists have also cautioned that service sector growth must be supported by proportionate growth of the industrial sector, otherwise the service sector grown will not be sustainable. In the current economic scenario it looks that the boom in the services sector is here to stay as India is fast emerging as global services hub.