The services sector has been at the forefront of Karnataka’s industrialisation supported by sector specific policies for aerospace, infrastructure, information technology and start-ups among others, said Jagadish Shettar, Minister of Large and Medium Scale Industries.

Addressing the SEPC, Cll 5th Global Exhibition on Services meet, Shettar talking on ‘Unleashing services sector potential in Karnataka’ said the State is a leader in medical education with numerous institutes of repute. It is well known for medical value tourism as well. This is besides being a home to leading educational institutes such as NLSIU, IISC and IIM which has enabled the creation of a robust talent pool. More than 26 per cent of international students coming to India, prefer to study in Karnataka.”

Karnataka aspires to skill 2 crore youth by 2030 and is developing adequate infrastructure to achieve this target, he said. He said that the tourism sector in Karnataka holds huge potential with the State having several world heritage sites, biodiversity hotspots and historic cities. He proposed to develop Jog falls along the lines of Niagara falls to boost the tourism sector in the State.

Progressive policies

Terming Karnataka as the service hub of India, TM Vijay Bhaskar, Karnataka Chief Secretary said that it is the number one exporter in the service sector in India. In education and aerospace also it is a leader. The State is a pioneer in bringing in progressive policies across sectors. Services sector has been contributing to more than 68 per cent of Karnataka’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).

Hari Menon, Co-Founder, Big Basket said that e-commerce and retail will co-exist as e-commerce still is a small piece in the retail industry with a share of 5 per cent and it will grow to 6 or 7 per cent in the next two years. Globally internet retail is about 15 per cent of the total market. The trend what we are seeing right now is that more and more physical retailers are getting into e-commerce business and e-commerce companies are setting up offline shops or looking for partners to set up physical outlets.

Devi Shetty, Chairman and Founder, Narayana Health said that $8.2 trillion worth healthcare sector is the largest industry in the world but only 20 per cent of the world’s population have access to quality healthcare. He said that 80 per cent of hospitals across the world do not have electronic medical records because of the high cost involved. According to Shetty the days are not far away when India will take the lead in making every medical record available digitally on the patient’s mobile phone. He said that Indian start-ups can bring down the costs of digitising medical records and India is going to lead the digital drive in global healthcare industry.

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