| Telecom, tourism and railways spearhead India growth story by puneetmafia on 02 March, 2013 - 04:00 PM | ||
|---|---|---|
 puneetmafia | Telecom, tourism and railways spearhead India growth story on 02 March, 2013 - 04:00 PM | |
The service sectors like telecom, tourism and railways led the Indian growth story during the last year, revealed the Economic Survey on Wednesday.According to the survey, telecom connections (wire and wireless) reached over 8,955 lakh by December 31, 2012. The connections had increased from 4,297.25 lakh in 2008-09, to 9,513.4 lakh in 2011-12.It was also a jubilant year for tourism industry, which saw inflow of foreign tourists to the tune of 6.65 million, as on December 31, 2012. Foreign tourist arrivals had jumped from 5.28 million in 2008-09 to 6.31 million in 2011-12.The foreign tourist arrivals to the country had grown by 9.2 per cent in 2011. The growth, however, was a modest 5.4 per cent in 2012, as a result of the slowdown and Euro-zone crises, the survey said. The increase in foreign arrivals has in turn boosted the foreign exchange earnings, which stood at $17,737 million at the end of December 2012. “Domestic tourism continues to be an important contributor, with a compound annual growth rate of 14.34 per cent in domestic tourist visits from 1991-2011. The hotels and restaurants sector, with a 1.5 per cent share in India’s GDP for 2011-12, is an important sub component,” the survey noted.The Railways also performed well by registering 969.78 million tonne of freight traffic in 2011-12, as compared to 833.31 million tonne in 2008-09. The net tonne kilometres of Railways increased from 5,38,226 million in 2008-09 to 6,39,768 million in 2011-12. | ||