Education sector to be opened up for FDI

New Delhi, Sep 6 (UNI) With a view to arriving at a broad consensus for foreign direct investment in higher education, Government will soon come out with a consultation paper to solicit public opinion over the contentious issue.

The Commerce Ministry will be posting a consultation paper on its website by the end of this week. This will be basically a discussion on education policies which would be finally tabled before the Cabinet, Department of Commerce Special Secretary G K Pillai today told reporters.

''Nearly four billion dollars are being outsourced from India for higher education,'' he added.

The demand of the legal fraternity to open up the legal services is also being considered, Mr Pillai said.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath said services sector is growing at nearly 10 per cent per annum and the focus should be new areas of services besides IT, to boost exports.

The service oriented SEZs coming up across the country will generate 12.5 lakh jobs in 18 months, Mr Nath said.

Terming India the hub of economic activities, Mr Nath said there is a need for a domestic-driven growth which would further drive the exports of services.

He also stressed that Services Export Promotion Council will be playing a vital role in this regard.

Earlier, Chairman CII National Committe of Trade Policy Sanjay Budhia said exports in health and education sector shall be fully exploited. He also favoured establishment of overseas branches of premier educational institutions like IITs and IIMs.

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