$ 450 b global BPO industry :

Sri Lanka to increase stake now

IT theme parks, infrastructure necessary:

Ravi LADDUWAHETTY

Sri Lanka is well poised to increase its stake to 1 percent of the astronomical US $ 450 billion global Business Process Outsourcing market within the next three years, a frontline industry resource person said yesterday.

Dr. Arul Sivagananathan

“Sri Lanka is on the right track in the development of the BPO sector and right now, we have a stake of 0.1 percent but we will be able to increase it to one percent within the next three years Hayleys Business Solutions International Managing Director Dr Arul Sivagananathan told Daily News Business yesterday.

He made these remarks on the sidelines of a seminar titled: “ Sri Lanka as a Finance and Accounting destination - realizing the potential” The event was hosted by Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) and sponsored by the Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants (ACCA) Sri Lanka Chapter.

He commended the Government for marketing Sri Lanka as a destination by choice and added that there was more that the state needed to do in terms of image building in the wake of the damage that the LTTE has done over the years in terms of adverse propaganda.

“Sri Lanka has a long way to go to reverse the image and their perceptions of the mega western investors who have to be told that there is no conflict now and change in their minds that there were no issues in the country as an investment destination,” he said.

He said some of the far reaching measures that the country had to adopt was to have IT theme parks and buildings and infrastructure on a large scale as there was in India where you can plug and play and then you can have a BPO.

“This is a 24X7 round the clock operation and that means that we have to upgrade the transport facilities and change the perception that working throughout the night is an all male operation,” he said.

He believes that the way forward for Sri Lanka’s BPO was to tap the medium and small corporates in the west now that the mega ones have gone to India and the Philippines. He sees the industry developing fast in the peripheries of Sri Lanka.

Some of the ideal cities that the industry could be taken would be Kandy Hambantota and Anuradhapura and this could be ideal locations for promoting employment.

He also sees the industry being developed to reach the values of the tea and apparel industries and foreign remittances as well in terms of export earnings.