Initial field work for annual survey of services sector begins for 2022-23

However, the survey itself may not come up before the end of 2024

The government is planning to come out with an annual survey of the services sector (ASSS) starting from the current financial year to map the tertiary sector that is now dominating the economy. Preparatory field work for the ASSS has started for the year.

However, the field work is just a familiarisation programme to apprise various service companies as to how to fill the form and answer questions given provided, says Pronab Sen, head of the standing committee on economic statistics set up by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

The survey may be finalised by the end of 2024 as it may take 18 months from the close of the financial year to come out with the survey on the lines time taken by the annual survey of industries (ASI).

The questionnaire includes various pieces of information such as the name and address of the service company, type of company, number of months of operation, total current assets, current liability, current assets, number of workers employed, their contribution to provident funds, number of working days, working capital, invested capital and outstanding loans, gross value added etc, sources said.

While an ASI factory is taken as a unit, an ASSS company or firm will be taken as a unit. The data set will be taken from the goods and services tax Network (GSTN), informs Sen.

GSTN has 13.8 million registered taxpayers, including both goods and services entities.  

The classification of services will be done on the basis of the two-digit GST classification as well as the national industrial classification (NIC).

MoSPI had earlier come out with a technical report on services sector enterprises in India for 2016-17 (July-June) which was conceived as a prelude to the ASSS. In the report, the financial sector was excluded. The report had 13 broad categories for service with accompanied codes. These included wholesale and retail trade, transport and warehousing, accommodation and food services, information and communication services, real estate, education, professional, scientific and technical activities, administrative and support services, human health and social services, arts, entertainment and recreation services etc.

Services sector's importance has grown over the years. As such, there is a need to be a gauge for services' activities. Besides ASSS, one can think of the monthly index of service activities on the lines of the index of industrial production (IIP).

However, Sen says there would not be any index of services production in India due to definitional issues.

"There are problems with the index of services production. The issue is how you define services production. Say, what will constitute health services, whether your regular check-up with a doctor will be included in it or not and what will be the ratio of other medical services to this," he wonders.

However, there is an index of services production in Europe. Sen says there is a quality issue in those indices as well. He rules out the index of services production.

Services constitute over half of gross value added (GVA) of India's economy if construction is taken away from it. If construction is taken as services, the tertiary sector accounts for over 60 per cent of GVA.

Services have also emerged as a major area of exports for India. It is catching up with merchandise exports. For instance, India exports goods worth $32.9 billion and services worth $32.2 billion in January 2023 and $33.9 billion and $29.1 billion respectively in February 2023.