By IANS,
New Delhi : Telecom, tourism and railways have been the best performers in services sector in India, the 2012-13 Economic Survey tabled in parliament Wednesday said.
According to the Economic Survey, authored by chief economic advisor to the finance ministry Raghuram Rajan, telecom connections increased from 429.72 million in 2008-09 to 895.51 million till Dec 31, 2012.
“The data till 31 December, 2012, shows that 8,955.1 lakh (895.51 million) connections have been provided,” the Survey said.
The survey tabled a day before the general budget also pointed out that the tourism sector had also recorded growth in the number of foreign tourists visiting India.
The foreign tourists numbers increased to 6.65 million as of Dec 31, 2012. The tourists arrival numbers was 6.31 million in 2011-12 and 5.8 million in 2008-09.
The foreign exchange earnings from foreign tourist arrival grew to $17.73 billion. The earnings were $16.56 billion in 2011-12.
The railways sector also performed well by registering 969.78 million tonnes of freight traffic carried in 2011-12 as compared to 833.31 million tonnes of freight transported in 2008-09.
The net tonne kilometres of the railways increased from 5,38,226 million in 2008-09 to 6,39,768 million in 2011-12.