Cellular phone industry tops services sector growth in ''04
By Our Corporate Bureau | 15 Jun 2004
New
Delhi: According to the latest CII-ASCON Services
survey, which covers the period between April 2003 and
March 2004, the fast growing service sectors maintained
their growth in the last financial year. Even the moderately
growing sectors did better than in the previous year.
The fastest growing sector was cellular telephones, which
grew by more than 106 per cent in 2003-04, against 90
percent in 2002-03. The survey forecast for the next six
months is a growth of about 90-100 per cent.
Housing finance was the second-fastest growing sector
within the services industry. Sanctions of home loans
rose by over 30 percent during 2003-04, a bit lower than
the previous year's growth of 42 percent. The projection
for the next six months stands at 30 percent.
On
the IT front the domestic software sector grew 15 percent
against 13 percent the preceding year while ITeS-BPO sector
rose by a phenomenal 54 percent. Software exports were
up marginally at 27 percent against 26 percent the previous
fiscal. The home software industry is expected to grow
at 10-15 percent over the last six months, while the ITeS-BPO
sector is likely to grow more than 50 percent. Software
exports will rise by more than 20 percent the CII study
says.
There is good news for the hospitality industry too. Tourist
arrivals registered a rise of 17 percent in 2004 marking
good tidings for the hotels industry reeling from the
9/11 crisis. Tourist arrivals had arisen 2 percent from
the previous year. The survey estimates that tourist arrivals
will be up 20 percent in '05.
Good
performance on the exports front led to good news for
the cargo industry as well. Overall, the industry grew
by eight per cent, while exports of air cargo rose by
11 per cent.
Imports
of air cargo rose by more than seven per cent and the
outlook for the next six months for the industry is a
growth of 5-10 per cent.
Cargo export and cargo imports are also estimated to maintain
a growth of about 5-10 per cent.
