Accommodation and food, retail, real estate lead India's services growth in first ISP release
New Delhi, July 14
Accommodation and food services, retail trade and real estate emerged as the fastest-growing segments in India's services sector in April 2026, according to the first release of the trial Index of Services Production released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
The ministry on Tuesday released the first set of sub-sectoral ISPs for 19 services sub-sectors with 2024-25 as the base year.
The new index covers around 60 per cent of the country's services sector and marks the beginning of a monthly indicator that will track short-term movements in India's formal services sector.
"Top Sub - Sectors reporting strong growth in the April, 2026 growth are Accommodation and Food (37.2 per cent), Retail Trade (30.8 per cent), Administrative & support services (28.7 per cent) and Real Estate (27.7 per cent)," it said.
According to the ministry, 14 out of the 19 sub-sectors recorded double-digit growth in April 2026 compared with April 2025, while nearly all categories registered positive growth.
Other sectors also recorded healthy growth. Telecommunications expanded 22.8 per cent, Repair Services grew 19.2 per cent, Road Transport increased 18.5 per cent, while Warehousing and Support Activities for Transportation rose 18.2 per cent.
The ministry also noted that the Professional, Scientific and Technical Services, including R&D, recorded 16.5 per cent growth, followed by Arts, Entertainment and Recreation Services at 16.4 per cent, Insurance at 15.6 per cent, Wholesale Trade at 15.3 per cent, IT and Computer Related Services at 15.2 per cent, and Banking at 12.2 per cent.
Among the remaining sectors, Water Transport grew 5.7 per cent, Postal and Courier Services increased 3.3 per cent, and Information and Broadcasting recorded 2.5 per cent growth.
However, two sectors witnessed a decline during the month. Air Transport contracted 13.9 per cent, while Railway Transport recorded a marginal decline of 0.4 per cent compared with April 2025.
MoSPI said the ISP represents an important milestone in strengthening India's statistical system and improving the measurement of the services sector, which accounts for more than half of the country's economic activity.
It said the release of sub-sectoral ISPs provides, for the first time, a monthly measure of short-term movements in India's formal services sector.
MoSPI said subsequent ISP data will be released on the 29th of every month, while the overall ISP will be introduced later after studying the stability and resilience of the sub-sectoral indices and improving the overall coverage of services.
The ministry said the trial series has been prepared using GST data, administrative data, and data from the Annual Survey of Incorporated Services Sector Enterprises (ASISSE). It added that the monthly ISPs are being published on an experimental basis to examine data quality, test the resilience of the index and obtain feedback from stakeholders and users before bringing out the overall Index of Services Production.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Interesting data. I work in IT consulting and the 15.2% growth in IT services seems conservative compared to what we're seeing. Maybe the trial index undercounts some sectors? Also curious about railways - just -0.4% decline, not bad actually. Air transport at -13.9% is concerning, probably due to high fuel costs and competition from trains.
Real estate growing 27.7% while our rents are skyrocketing! 🏠 Every month landlords increase rent by 10-15% in my area. Good for the economy but hard for tenants. Also, why is postal and courier only 3.3%? With e-commerce booming, shouldn't it be higher? Maybe the data needs more refinement.
The trial nature is smart - test the data before going full scale. But I worry about GST data reliability. Many small service businesses are still outside the GST net. Also, using 2024-25 base year is recent enough which is good. Would love to see comparison with IIP for manufacturing later. Both together will give a clearer picture.
As someone in financial services, the 12.2% banking growth seems low considering all the digital lending and UPI expansion. Maybe it's because traditional banking is included? Also, insurance at 15.6% is great - more people are getting insured post-COVID. The air transport decline is the only negative note. Hopefully summer traffic picks up!
Great initiative but I wish they included more informal sector data. Services like domestic help, street vendors, and small repair shops form a huge part of our economy. Using
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