Manmohan for opening up education, legal services

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today made a strong case for opening up the legal sector and called for a policy regime to facilitate more investment in education.

Underlining the government's commitment to sustaining rapid growth of the services sector, Singh said, "We are considering setting up a high-level group in the Planning Commission to look into all aspects of the services sector and suggest policy measures to sustain its competitiveness."

The high-level group will consist of members from government, business and academia.

The prime minister's support for liberalising education and legal services comes on the back of the commerce ministry's suggestions in this regard. Singh was speaking at a summit organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations.

"We need huge investments to set up more universities, professional colleges and nursing schools. We need a policy regime which facilitates and promotes investment in education. More than $3 billion is spent annually by students for studies abroad. This could be easily retained in the country if we are able to expand educational facilities," he said.

Similarly, a more open legal sector was necessary with increasing integration of the economy with the global one, since expertise was needed in international, commercial and third country law, he said.

Singh said health services was another emerging area. "Medical outsourcing and medical tourism, in particular, provide an opportunity for the health sector, which we should be able to exploit. For this, an accreditation mechanism for hospitals and laboratories needs to be established," he said.

Singh also pointed out that the largest single item in the country's export basket was the remittances sent back home by workers in foreign countries. The total remittances to developing countries exceed FDI flows and are twice the official development assistance, he said.