Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that India had made the transformation from a country worried about its 'brain-drain', to a country that now thinks of 'brain-gain'.

Inaugurating the first Global Exhibition on Services in New Delhi today, the PM added that India should assess its 'service' capabilities in the global perspective.

He also said that India had vast potential to meet the skilled manpower needs of the entire world, and called for a careful mapping of global needs, which India could fulfil over the next decade.

The PM also tweeted about the same:

At the Global Exhibition on Services, highlighted the rich potential for growth of services sector in India. http://t.co/ze95XqjUm8 — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 23, 2015

Following is the text from PIB release:

Stating that Human Resource is India's biggest asset, the Prime Minister said India's development journey should focus on the 65 percent of its population which is below the age of 35. He said that as the world looked for skilled manpower, India had the capability to become a crucial provider of this resource.

The Prime Minister mentioned sectors such as nursing, high-end financial services, arbitration, tourism, music and vegetarian cooking as examples of what India had to offer to the world, besides the already established IT and other core sectors.

In her address, Commerce and Industry Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman exuded confidence that Services sector would provide the impetus for the future of Indian growth story. Smt. Sitharaman informed that Services sector now contributes 57% of GDP, 1/4th of employment and 1/3rd of the total exports of the country.

Dwelling over the importance being given by the govt to growth of services, the Commerce Minister said that GES 2015 has been organized to serve as a platform to enhance strategic cooperation and develop synergies between the players of the services sector in India with its global counterparts. She informed that 63 countries are participating in the Exhibition out of which 39 countries have taken exhibition space. 18 States are also participating.

Smt Sitharaman said that the Indian Growth sector has been led by the services sector and in 2013-14 while the services export was USD 150 Bn, the services import was USD 78 Bn, thus resulting in a services export surplus of USD 73 Bn.

Outlining the future abroad, the Commerce Minister said the new geographical territories are being explored and GES 2015 shall serve to engage with the service seekers to take forward the momentum in the services sector.

Earlier speaking on the occasion, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said that India has seen rapid growth in the services sector and the market sector has improved from 1% to 3.3% in 2003 over a period of around 12 years.

Dr, Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals, said that the recent initiative by the govt. in allowing e-visa will facilitate growth of services in the health segment. He said India has the potential to provide holistic health solutions and India can become global health care destination in the times to come.

Mr T M Bhasin, Chairman, Indian Banks Association, said that size of banking assets in the country have crossed 2 trillion USD and the banking sector has the potential to become 5th largest in the world by 2020.

Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman, Services Export Promotion Council noted with pride that number of developed countries are now dependent on Indian healthcare service providers for their requirements. He said that 17% of all the super-specialists serving in the USA are now from India. Dr. Trehan said that there is huge potential that needs to be explored in Japan, China and CIS countries.