Eye on FTAs, Centre turns to GSTN for services trade data mining

The department of commerce is working with the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) to explore ways to compile sector-wise data on services, thereby making the trade data comprehensive at a time when India is negotiating trade deals with a host of nations.

The process of measuring services trade is complex and is not as comprehensive as the export-import data of goods. Currently, the value of exports and imports of services is released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and it comes with a lag of over two months.

Exporters said often there is an overlap between the data