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Posts Tagged ‘Sri Lanka’

IT/BPO highest growth sector of Sri Lanka’s economy

May 16th, 2011

Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing (IT/BPO) 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. Even though Sri Lanka is the new toddler on the block in the IT and BPO area, it has the ability to compete with high profile counterparts.
With the dawn of peace, IT/BPO sector shows signs of being one of the potential industries with the entry of more foreign projects. To enjoy further economic benefits, having more foreign projects would be a crucial element to generate more foreign income in the country.

Speaking to Daily News Business, Lanka BPO Academy Chief Executive Officer Yasas Vishuddhi Abeywickrama said, there is a potential in the financial accounting and engineering designs in those areas are rapidly growing as equivalent to global market demands. It is heartening to note that many overseas projects are coming to Sri Lanka in the related fields.

Commenting on the stumbling blocks that mitigate the growth in the BPO industry. Abeywickrama said it is vital to impel the capacity building to take the industry to the next level. Skills development of the employees has to be enhanced in a much larger scale to suit the changing global business requirements. In addition, the cost of doing business in Sri Lanka is little expensive compared to other countries. The physical infrastructure in key economic areas particularly in telecommunication industry has also to be upgraded aggressively to boost the IT/BPO industry furthermore.

English is the business language which is widely used in Sri Lanka. The government and private sectors reiterate the importance of having English fluent individuals in the IT/BPO and other corporate sectors to become globally competitive. It is high time to teach English in a practical way at the school level to generate more high productive human resources for the IT/BPO industry and other commercial areas.

Abeywickrama said the ICT infrastructure in rural areas has to be utilized in a better manner while increasing the awareness of people on the BPO industry. Employees in the BPO industry are blessed with many opportunities and are exposed to foreign expertise with more foreign projects that are coming to Sri Lanka.

Source:http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/05/16/bus03.asp

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Tags: BPO IT Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s Dialog enters BPO JV with India’s Firstsource

May 3rd, 2011

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Sri Lanka’s largest mobile operator Dialog Axiata , a subsidiary of Malaysia’s Axiata , on Tuesday announced a business process outsourcing (BPO) joint venture with India’s Firstsource Solutions in the island nation.

The initial investment from the Mumbai-based back office services firm will be $1 million and expand later, Firstsource CEO and Managing Director Mathew Vallance told reporters in Colombo. He declined to reveal the total investment.

“Firstsource Solutions and Dialog will hold a 74 percent and a 26 percent stake respectively in DBS,” Dialog said in a corporate disclosure to the Colombo Stock Exchange.

Business process outsourcing, or back-office services, has been booming in post-war Sri Lanka, and the government has made the sector’s development top priority to provide employment for educated youth and dissuade them from seeking foreign jobs.

Already HSBC’s Sri Lankan unit has a BPO centre in Colombo, with roughly 1,800 employees, while other firms have targeted Sri Lanka’s well-qualified but perennially underemployed accountants.

“The stability of the economy, support of the government bodies, and the availability of a highly skilled talent pool were our key drivers to invest in this market,” Vallance said.

Source:http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/03/srilanka-dialog-firstsolution-idUSL3E7G315Q20110503

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Tags: BPO India Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka: A Shining Outsourcing Destination 18 Months after the End of the Civil War

November 18th, 2010

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A growing GDP, significant tax benefits and a burgeoning trade relationship with the UK are just some of the reasons why Sri Lanka has overcome the shackles of civil war to be listed by The Economist Intelligent Unit as one of the top ten fastest growing economies worldwide, the Sri Lankan Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) has revealed. It’s been eighteen months since the Sri Lankan government defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam, putting an end to 30 years of conflict in the northern and eastern parts of the country. In that time, and despite the conflict, the Sri Lankan ITO/BPO industry managed to grow by 23%, with a range of government incentives introduced to foreign investors in a bid to highlight the real advantages of Sri Lanka as a global sourcing destination. Sri Lanka has also seen a 2% increase in its GDP (from 4% to 6%) since the end of the conflict, as a result of a number of high profile businesses such as HSBC, Stock Exchange, Aviva, Microsoft, Motorola, Amba Research and Virtusa all taking the decision to outsource services to the region, and with the current influx of investments and existing growth, Sri Lankan industry is estimated to grow 26% during the year 2010.

“There are a number of reasons why the Sri Lankan economy has experienced growth in the months since the civil war,” said Dinesh Saparamadu, Chairman of SLASSCOM. “Not only does Sri Lanka have the highest literacy rate in South East Asia, but it is also endowed with a high quality talent base and offers a very attractive cost base for business. “Sri Lanka has come a long way in the past 18 months and we are excited to see how business, investment and infrastructure develops here over the next couple of years.” Sri Lanka was ranked 16th in the 2009 AT Kearney Global Services Location Index which ranks the Global Top 50 for global sourcing destinations. The ranking jumped 13 positions from 2007 and is expected to further improve even further over the coming months and years. Editor’s Notes About SLASSCOM Sri Lankan Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) acts as the catalyst of growth for the Sri Lankan IT and BPO industry by facilitating trade and business, propagation of education and employment, encouragement of research and innovation, and by supporting the creation of a progressive national policy framework.

Source:http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/press-release/mot_slasscom-sri-lanka-a-shining-outsourcing-destination-18-months-after-the-end-of-the-civil-war-1317162.html

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Tags: BPO IT Outsourcing Sri Lanka

Top outsourcing firms to come to Sri Lanka

December 14th, 2009

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Mphasis, an Indian outsourcing firm, will be investing US$ 2.5 million in its first stage of operations in Sri Lanka, to set up an office which is bigger than HSBC Data Processing Centre (HDPL), which is the largest business process outsourcing (BPO) entity here, Board of Investment (BOI) officials said.

“This will be the largest we will have and it will be bigger than HDPL,” a BOI official told Business Times on the sidelines of a press conference to announce Mphasis’ intention of setting up operations here.

The company is slated to open a centre in Colombo which will offer legal, finance and accounting services, according to Gopinathan Padmanathan, President Applications, Mphasis. He also said that Mphasis is currently doing the due diligence to set up the BPO operation. “The centre will be operational from next year. The office will recruit 600 employees in the first year with an intention to expand to 2,000 in three years,” Mr. Padmanathan said.

He noted that the BPO industry is now seeing signs of revivals and that the worst period is over. “I don’t see a slowdown now, I see a cautious approach.” Mphasis is the fifth largest BPO operator in India with revenues of 900 million dollars with a market capitalization of US$ 3.2 billion in 2008. Dinesh Venugopal, CEO, Mphasis said the company has 34,000 staff and has a presence in US, Europe, China, Japan, Australia and Singapore.

He also said that 64% of Mphasis’ revenues are generated from the North American market. He said that the company has already approached local academic institutions, chief among them the University of Moratuwa, to develop its talent pool.

The consulting giant, A.T. Kerney’s Global Services Location Index (GSLI) index identifies the top 50 countries for outsourcing globally, according to the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies.

Source: http://www.sundaytimes.lk/091213/BusinessTimes/bt23.html

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