NEW DELHI, May 4 (Xinhua) -- India's services exports set a new record of 254.4 billion U.S. dollars in the financial year 2021-2022, up 23.4 percent year on year, the federal ministry of commerce and industry said Wednesday.

       According to the ministry, the services exports also hit an all-time monthly high of 26.9 billion U.S. dollars in March this year.

       "The new record achieved in 2021-22 beats the previous high of 213.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2019-20," the ministry said in a statement.

       The ministry said telecommunications, computer, and information services, other business services and transport are the top contributors in services exports from April to December 2021.

       Meanwhile, India's overall exports, comprising services and merchandise, amounted to a record high of 676.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2021-22, the ministry said.

       In addition, "India's merchandise exports had crossed 400 billion U.S. dollars milestone in the financial year 2021-2022 and stood at 421.8 billion U.S. dollars which is a phenomenal increase of 44.6 percent and 34.6 percent over 2020-21 and 2019-20 respectively," the ministry said.