• According to the latest ‘Global Trade Outlook and Statistics’ report of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), India registered a 17 per cent jump in the export of digitally delivered services to $257 billion to become the world’s fourth largest exporter in the segment, 

• India’s growth rate was much higher than the 4 per cent increase posted by China and Germany.

• The United States is at the top spot, followed by the United Kingdom and Ireland. 

• Global exports of digitally delivered services soared to $4.25 trillion in 2023, up 9 per cent year-on-year, and accounted for 13.8 per cent of world exports of goods and services. 

Digitally deliverable services

• Facilitated by the increasing availability of information and communications technologies (ICTs) worldwide, international trade in services has witnessed fast growth over the past decades. 

• Digital technologies and the ubiquity of the Internet have made it easier to buy, sell and deliver many services online and across borders.

• Examples of such trade include various business and knowledge processes, computer services, system design and other services delivered over ICT networks. They are of strong and growing interest for both developing and developed countries, as they represent a strategic component of the digital economy. 

• These services are traded over borders through computer networks and encompass everything from professional and management services to streaming of music and videos, online gaming, and remote education.

• Digitally deliverable services include sales and marketing services, insurance and financial services, professional services, back-office services, research and development (R&D), and education and training services, health care services, among others.

• In 2023, the value of these services surpassed pre-pandemic levels by over 50 per cent. 

• In Europe and Asia, which hold a global market share of 52.4 per cent and 23.8 per cent respectively, exports rose by 11 per cent and 9 per cent. 

• Growth accelerated in Africa (13 per cent) and in South and Central America and the Caribbean (11 per cent), exceeding the global average. 

• These two regions, which formed only 0.9 per cent and 1.6 per cent of global exports in 2023, are on the path to take advantage of digitally delivered services trade.

What is the WTO?

• The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is the only global international organisation dealing with the rules of trade between nations. 

• The overall objective of the WTO is to help its members use trade as a means to raise living standards, create jobs and improve people’s lives.

• At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.

• The WTO came into being on January 1, 1995. But its trading system is half a century older. Since 1948, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) had provided the rules for the system. Whereas GATT had mainly dealt with trade in goods, the WTO and its agreements cover trade in services, and in traded inventions, creations and designs (intellectual property).

• The headquarters of the WTO is situated in Geneva, Switzerland.

• The WTO provides a forum for negotiating agreements aimed at reducing obstacles to international trade and ensuring a level playing field for all, thus contributing to economic growth and development. 

• It also provides a legal and institutional framework for the implementation and monitoring of these agreements, as well as for settling disputes arising from their interpretation and application. 

• The WTO currently has 166 members, accounting for 98 per cent of world trade. A total of 25 countries are negotiating membership.

• During the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi in February 2024, WTO membership of Comoros and Timor-Leste were approved taking the total number of members to 166.

• The WTO’s top level decision-making body is the Ministerial Conference, which meets usually every two years.

• WTO activities are supported by a Secretariat led by the WTO Director-General. The Secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

• The General Council meets regularly to carry out the functions of WTO. It has representatives (usually ambassadors or equivalent) from all member governments and has the authority to act on behalf of the ministerial conference which only meets about every two years.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store