A service is any act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does

not result in the ownership of anything. Its production may or may not be tied to a physical product. - Philip Kotler Characteristics of Goods & services:Characteristics Goods Output Product Uniformity Facility Location Ownership Customer Involvement Mechanization Producer Status Stock Customer Role Return Tangible Generally Uniform Output Near Input supply Possible Low or no Involvement Generally High Separable from goods Inventorable Customer as only Customer Can be returned

Services Intangible Variable Output Close to customer Not Possible High Involvement Generally Low Inseparable from services Non-Inventorable Customer as a producer also Cannot be returned

Service Sector in India: 1. Travel & Tourism 2. Transportation Services 3. Couriers, Cargo, Logistics 4. Communication and Entertainment Services 5. Financial Services 6. Retail Services 7. Information Technology & Consultancy Services 8. Hospitality Services 9. Tele-Communication Services

Reasons for flourishing of Service Sector: There are immense future prospects in service sector in India. 1. Now a days this sector is booming like anything. Because now business firms are taking customer as king. 2. There are n-number of varieties available in market for the same goods or services, thats why the rate of switching over from one product to another is very high. 3. Now companies are giving their best because they want to retain their customers for a long time. 4. Companies want to make their better services their USP. 5. Service sector is directly concern with customers. So it is important to give the best quality to the customers to differentiate the company from others. In conclusion I would like to say that Service sector (as mentioned above- travel & tourism, telecom, retail, financial service etc.) has a very good future in India. It is coming with new types of employment. You can easily find out this sector around you, because it is every where in so many forms.