Contribution and Growth of Unorganized Sector: Data and Measurement Issues in National Accounts Statistics

The service industry has emerged as fastest-growing sectors in the world economy, making higher contributions to the global output. Its growth rate has been higher than that of agriculture and manufacturing sectors. In India too, the rise in the service sector's share in GDP marks a structural shift in the economy and brings it closer to a developed economy. There are indications that this growth will get further accelerated not only because of burgeoning of services within India, but also because of their increasing export. At the same time, there is another perception that the present estimates of service sector in Indian economy are somewhat suppressed because of inadequate coverage and methodological weaknesses in the estimation of the contribution of some of the new/emerging services. An attempt has been made in the paper to analyse the various facets of the service sector in Indian Economy during 1980–81 and 2006–07.