"Currently, the country's share in worldwide service exports is 2.7 per cent, and it would increase to six per cent by 2012," the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) said in its latest macrotrack report.

The country's exports of services, powered by the booming software, consultancy, engineering and tourism sectors, was expected to touch $319-billion by 2011-12, the report said.

The country's services exports, in the past-decade-and a-half, have increased fifteen-fold, from around $5-billion in 1990 to nearly $74-billion in 2006, the report said.

"Today, more than one-third of the country's aggregate exports are services, an exceptionally high share unmatched by any large developing country and only a handful of advanced countries," NCAER said in the report.

Besides exports, the country's imports of services have also grown at an impressive rate, the report said.

"Against the world average of 10 per cent, the country's services imports grew by a hefty 40 per cent in 2006, while exports jumped by 34 per cent," NCAER said.