IT sector posts US $ 250.3 m revenue in 2010
Indunil HEWAGE
The Sri Lankan IT sector which commands a high value addition
compared with many other industries posted a revenue of US $ 250.3
million with an impressive 46% growth rate in 2010 as against the year
2009, according to a survey conducted by the Export Development Board.
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The Infosys offices in India |
“Even though the local industry is still considered to be in its
nascent stage, it is happy to note that many high profile investors
particularly Infosys-India and other IT related companies have expressed
willingness to invest in the IT and Information Technology enabled
service industry in Sri Lanka,” Export Development Board Chairman Janaka
Ratnayake said.
In 2010, 147 companies contributed the export revenue of the industry
while 137 companies contributed to the export revenue in 2007. It is
relevant to note that some companies who had contributed to the growth
in export revenue in 2007 have not exported services in 2010 while some
companies have entered the export industry in 2009 and 2010.
According to the Sri Lankan Information Technology forecast, the
addressable domestic IT market is expected to grow from US $ 393 million
in 2011 up to over US $ 742 million over the next five year period. The
survey has identified 147 ICT companies and 28 Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO) companies in Sri Lanka and these two sectors consist
of around 16,800 skilled workforce.
The top three markets for the Sri Lankan IT export are Europe (UK and
Ireland), USA, South Asia and the major BPO markets are New Zealand,
Asia mature markets, Middle East and Canada. |
