The Centre has welcomed the IT industry’s proposal to start IT hubs in Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has said that India is on track to achieve its merchandise exports target of $400 billion this year, while services exports were likely to be at about $240 to $250 billion.

Speaking to the leaders of the country’s top IT companies on Sunday, he said the Central government will give full support to the sector to accelerate growth and help India’s Services exports soar to $1 trillion in a decade.

“When I look at the trajectory of these – I personally believe this is going to be a race to the top. We can converge $1 trillion. That should be the ambition, mission. You have a little bit of catching up to do. I’ll be delighted if you cross $1 trillion faster than them,” Piyush Goyal said.

The Union Minister welcomed the IT industry’s proposal to start IT hubs in Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns, which would create numerous jobs and help develop the regions.

He said the IT industry should identify the towns, and the Centre would assist them in providing all the necessary infrastructure and facilities


He said the IT industry can make a big contribution to Services exports by focusing on new technology and products that can make India a bigger global player in the sector.

In the virtual meeting over the weekend, the minister told leaders of the IT industry that they should focus on high-tech products.

He said the IT industry had grown spectacularly on its own and many of the top companies grew at a time when India did not focus on creating a favourable ecosystem for Startups.

Goyal said the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will provide any assistance needed by the IT industry to help it grow rapidly and contribute to India’s export of Services.

The virtual meeting was attended by Nasscom President Debjani Ghosh, Infosys CEO Salil Parekh, Tech Mahindra CEO & MD C.P. Gurnani; Srikanth Velamakanni, co-founder and CEO of artificial intelligence technology startup Fractal Analytics; Mphasis CEO Nitin Rakesh; Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji; Genpact CEO N.V. Tyagrajan; WNS Global Services Group CEO Keshav R Murugesh; Mastek CEO Hiral Chandrana and Krishnan Ramanujam, President and Head of Business & Technology Services at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).