International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), India Online ISSN: 2319-7064 Volume 2 Issue 7, July 2013 www.ijsr.net HRD Practices for Sustainable Growth with Special Reference to Indian Service Sector Kamalpreet Kaur Paposa 1 , Sukhvinder Singh Paposa 2 1 Rungta College of Engineering and Technology, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, India 2 Rungta College of Engineering and Technology, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, India Abstract: The service industry forms a backbone of social and economic development of a country. It has emerged as the largest and fastest-growing sectors in the world economy, making higher contributions to the global output and employment. Its growth rate has been higher than that of agriculture and manufacturing sectors. However recently in June, 2013 it has been observed that Indian services firms lost momentum as new business trickled in at the slowest pace in nearly two years, dashing hopes of a sustained pick-up in economic growth, So a big question that arises is how the sustainable growth of service sector can be maintained? And for achieving the growth one factor which can help a lot is Human Resource and their continuous development. The present paper attempts to identify few HR challenges in the Service Industry of Indian Context and suggests various Human Resource Development practices to handle them. Keywords: service industry, sustainable growth, Human Resource, HR challenges, Human Resource Development practices 1. Introduction The Indian service sector accounts for a large part of the Indian economy – be it in terms of employment potential or its contribution to the national income. Making-up for almost 60 per cent of Asia’s third largest economy, the industry spans from sophisticated fields like telecommunications, satellite mapping, and computer software to simple services like those performed by the barber, the carpenter, and the plumber; highly capital- intensive activities like civil aviation and shipping to employment-oriented activities like tourism, real estate, and housing; infrastructure-related activities like railways, roadways, and ports to social sector related activities like health and education. India Has Highest Increase in Share of Services in GDP at 8.1% . India’s services sector has emerged as a prominent sector in terms of its contribution to national and state incomes, trade flows, FDI inflows and employment. For more than a decade the sector has been pulling up the growth of Indian economy with great stability. The share of services in India’s GDP at factor cost (at current prices) increased from 33.3% (1950-1951) to 56.5% in 2012-13, as per advance estimates. Including construction, this would increase to 64.8%. With 18%, trade, hotels and restaurants are the largest contributors to GDP among the various sub sectors. This is followed by financing, insurance, real estate and business services with 16.6% share. Community, social, and personal services with 14% share stand in the third place. This is followed by construction at fourth place with 8.2% share. Indian service sector enjoyed foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows amounting to US$ 4.75 billion during April-February 2012- 13, according to the recent statistics released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) However recently in June,2013 it has been observed that Indian services firms lost momentum as new business trickled in at the slowest pace in nearly two years, dashing hopes of a sustained pick-up in economic growth, So a big question that arises is how the sustainable growth of service sector can be maintained? And for achieving the growth one factor which can help a lot is Human Resource. The availability of trained manpower is essential to achieve excellence in the service industry. The recent scenario of economic liberalisation and process of globalization increased the importance of Human Resource Management by mani-fold. The more stress should be given on Human Resource Development. For effective human resource utilization Human Resource Development becomes very essential. The need of the hour is to develop human resources to maximum possible extend. Human Resource Development is, therefore, a continuous process of sharpening the skills, knowledge of the people, which are adopted by all most all the organisation. It is therefore presumed that the expenses incurred on Human Resource Development and Training is investment, the investment which yields income. The effective Human Resource Development is very essential for the growth and prosperity of the organisation and society in large. 2. Literature Review [1]An organization became dynamic and growth oriented if their people are dynamic and proactive. Through proper selection of people and by nurturing their dynamism and other competencies an organization can make their people dynamic and proactive. To survive it is very essential for an organization to adopt the change in the environment and also continuously prepare their employees to meet the challenges; this will have a positive impact on the organization. Human resource development (HRD) is concerned with the provision of learning and development opportunities that support the achievement of business strategies and improvement of organizational, team and individual performance (Armstrong and Baron, 2002). HRD is the process of improving, moulding and changing skills, knowledge, creative abilities, aptitude, attitude, values, commitment, etc., based on present and future job and organizational requirements (Rodrigues and Chincholkar, 2005). The service sector industries of India is facing problems for sustained pick-up in economic growth .To survive and excel in the new economy, the HRD practices is 426