Exports: Has white-collar success trumped India's blue-collar viability?

If India were trading in only goods, a massive deficit of about $150 bn would have forced down the rupee's value, making Indian manufactured goods cheaper in export markets, writes T N Ninan

At the turn of the century, in 2000-01, India’s exports of manufactured goods accounted for the bulk of the total export basket for both goods and services. Services exports were only half of manufactured exports. A decade later, in 2010-11, the export of manufactured products still accounted for the biggest chunk in India’s export basket, but its share had slipped. And by the last financial year, 2020-21, services exports ($206 billion) had virtually caught up with manufactured exports ($208 billion), in a total export basket of $498 billion. In the space of two decades, from being half of manufactured exports,