ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the heterogeneity across various subsectors in the services sector in India through the analysis of growth, structure and productivity. It provides detailed analysis at a level of sub-sectors not commonly found in the literature. Business services and private-sector communications stand out prominently in terms of high growth in recent years. Both these services are, however, of relatively recent origin in the Indian economy. Their share began to increase in the 1980s, but a significant rise took place in the 1990s and later. The author provides a reclassification of services into four sub-categories based on a combination of end user and ownership. Distributive services accounts for the highest share of services GDP followed by producer services and social services. In terms of labour productivity, the producer services exhibit about three times the labour productivity in social services and in distributive services.
