IT experts claim that even though IT and BPO area are new to Sri Lanka it has the ability to compete with high profile counterparts, and Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing industries are expected to be among the highest growth sector of the country’s economy with the 20 percent annual growth rate, in terms of revenue.
Chief Executive Officer of Lanka BPO Academy Mr. Yasas Vishuddhi Abeywickrama has said that following the vanquishing of the scourge of terrorism from the country and with the dawn of peace, IT/BPO sector shows signs of being one of the potential industries with the entry of more foreign projects. He points out that having more foreign projects would be a crucial element to generate more foreign income in the country.
He has said that there is a potential in the financial accounting and engineering designs in those areas are rapidly growing as equivalent to global market demands, and many overseas projects are coming to Sri Lanka in the related fields.
He has also pointed out that Skills development of the employees has to be enhanced in a much larger scale to suit the changing global business requirements, and ICT infrastructure in rural areas has to be utilized in a better manner while increasing the awareness of people on the BPO industry.
Recently the Board of Investment gave approval for several IT industry projects which included approval for Sri Lanka’s PC House to set up a subsidiary with an investment of three million dollars to undertake internet data centre operations. The BOI says the IT/BPO industry in Sri Lanka is seeing rapid growth due to the expansion of the global BPO industry, and internet data centres and information technology outsourcing are businesses with growth potential
The new unit of PC House will provide employment to 250 people. “The company intends to launch itself to cater to the outsourcing requirements of the local and foreign markets. It hopes to provide hosted and managed data services to corporate and public sectors. PCH intends to invest in setting up a fully-fledged 200-seat BPO operation in order to provide data entry services, data conversion services, book keeping and accounting services.
The BOI says that the location of Sri Lanka in terms of time-differences allows IT operators to cater to the European, Australian and the American markets. It further said that it has identified the IT sector as a priority growth sector for economic development and provides many incentives to promote investments. BOI approval entitles investors to tax breaks and duty free imports (niz).
Source:http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2011/05/16/it-and-bpo-make-rapid-progress-sri-lanka
