As a result of great progress in various developmental targets, developing nations are progressively investing more heavily into the rapid growth of their respective services sectors. However, there is very little academic research being conducted on the growing role of the services sector, and its sensitivity to climate change, even as economies become more reliant on its growth and well-being. Given the growing significance of the services sector, this paper aims to bridge this gap. This study focuses on the business process outsourcing services sector with an analysis of the global marketplace, and India’s place in it. It is imperative to establish an understanding of the sensitivity of the industry, and thus the economy at large, to climate and macro-economic shocks. The paper finds that the health of the services sector in developing nations is closely linked to monetary and foreign trade policy. Climate change adds an additional stress to an already tenuous balance between developmental and trade policy. The nature of the services sector itself further aggravates the sensitivity of players to climatic and economic shocks, along with policy uncertainty. Thus, a comprehensive evaluation of the sector, India’s place in the global services marketplace, and the potential aggravation and sensitivity of the sector in relation to climate change establishes that things cannot continue laissez-faire. There is an urgent need for policy to improve local demand for the expertise being developed by business process outsourcing. India must also embrace the opportunity to set the tone on AI legislation. Thus, a reduction on the reliance of the sector on foreign outsourcing, paired with strong legislation on climate change, can position India uniquely to tackle the challenges of development with more certainty.