PM for mapping of regional talent to promote skills, exports

New Delhi, April 23

Seeking to position India as global provider of talent, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday pressed for mapping of human resources to develop region-specific talents and making the nation a services exports hub.

He also pitched for making India a hub for global arbitration and asked lawyers not to be scared of foreign competition.

The Prime Minister said this while inaugurating the Global Services Exhibition here

“There is immense scope in the services sector...India's human resource is our biggest strength,” the Prime Minister said, stressing that the "brain drain" has now become a "brain gain".

Observing that in the coming days India is going to get younger, Modi said: "We need to focus on this aspect while thinking about our development journey."

As a country, he said, there was a need to think of "multiple layers of services" which can be exported to the world.

Elaborating on mapping of services, Modi said people of different regions have different talents and the effort could be made to develop those specific skills to take advantage of the requirement of the global community.

Seeking to allying fears that opening of legal services would result in dominance of foreign lawyers, Modi said that they were unfounded.

He further said that India could become a hub for global arbitration with changes in the legalisation.

The government has already introduced amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, in the Lok Sabha to encourage the international business community to settle commercial disputes in India.

The Prime Minister further said India had made the transformation from a country worried about its "brain-drain" to a country that thinks of "brain-gain." Modi said the country should assess its "service" capabilities in the global perspective.

He mentioned sectors such as nursing, high-end financial services, arbitration, tourism, music and vegetarian cooking that India can offer to the world, besides the already established IT and other core sectors.

Recalling his recent interaction with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Modi said she makes Indian curries, but has not perfected the taste.

Modi said there is a movement towards vegetarianism and suggested that cookery sessions could be included in tourist packages for foreigners. Indian music too has a wide scope in global market, he added.

Similarly, there should be stress on providing soft skills like language and value addition to enhance employment opportunities, both domestic as well as abroad.

Modi also stressed that Indian entertainment industry can become a big force if the country can impress upon the world that its Intellectual Property Right is complaint with global standards.

He also stressed that future development module should be made while keeping in mind the huge human resource "asset" available in the country.

In addition, he said the global requirement in the job market too should be kept in mind. "What the world would need in 2025, we can (meet that requirement," he said.

 He further said government, if required, would change rules and regulations to promote the services sector.

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said 63 countries are participating in the GES and 39 of which have taken exhibition space. Also, 18 states are also participating. — PTI