Service investments:

SL among key destinations

Sri Lanka and China are emerging as key destinations for services investments, while the Philippines has overtaken India as the top ranked outsourcing centre, a report by IBM, a global information technology firm has said.

In IBM’s Global Location Trends report for 2010 Philippines claimed top place displacing India for the first time in terms of estimated workers, and China overtook Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka retained its position at 12 while China moved to five, from 13 a year earlier.

“China is continuing its ascent as a services destination, and confirms it should not be considered any more merely as the world’s factory,” the report said.

“Sri Lanka is another Asian country that has succeeded in positioning itself as an alternative to India.”

Several Sri Lankan firms are engaging in the high-end of the market in the so-called ‘knowledge processing outsourcing’ of KPO sector.

Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundera said that helped by the 2011 budget Sri Lanka is aiming to have the best personal income taxation regime in Asia.

Sri Lanka’s accountants, trained by peoples initiatives are in global demand.

Information technology training is also supported by private entities which are affiliated to foreign institutions though State university output in the sector is also well regarded.

The IBM report said India and Philippines offer “similarly attractive business environments for international business support functions,” but Indian labour costs were rising faster. Courtesy: AsiaPulse via COMTEX