For the first time, the government will set a target for export of commercial services in this financial year.

The move comes at a time when the commerce ministry and the Reserve Bank of India are defining the scope of services exports, and a data collection mechanism is being prepared by the Centre.

Government officials said commerce secretary Dipak Chatterjee would be meeting professionals and industry bodies on May 7 to set the export target for 2003-04.

Professionals and industry bodies, who have been invited by the government for consultations, include chartered accountants, cost accountants, builders, hoteliers, software and consultancy firms.

The development comes soon after Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley announced benefits for services exports as part of the amendments to the Exim Policy.

On April 28, Jaitley and commerce ministry officials held consultations with officers of the directorate-general of foreign trade to evolve a mechanism to determine the extent of services.

At present, India uses the estimates prepared by the RBI as the official data for services exports.

Service exporters, who avail of the government's scheme of duty-free imports equivalent to 5 per cent of their average foreign exchange earnings, will be the source for the government's estimates for services exports.

The government has also set up a group comprising representatives of the commerce ministry, the Central Statistical Organisation, the RBI, the directorate-general of foreign trade and the director-general of commercial intelligence and statistics, Kolkata, to consider a framework for collection of data on services exports.

The World Trade Organisation uses the RBI's estimates in its annual report. According to the WTO, India's services exports were estimated at $20.7 billion in 2002, against $20.4 billion in 2001.

Imports were estimated at $15.5 billion in 2002. India slipped two notches to the 21st position among service exporters last year.

The country's share in global services exports, estimated at $1.54 billion, fell to 1.3 per cent in 2002 from 1.4 per cent in the previous year, according to the WTO.