BPO industry should be further promoted - WB Country Director

Shirajiv Sirimane

The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry is growing at 30 percent annually and Sri Lanka too should fall in line said the Country Director World Bank Sri Lanka, Ms. Naoka Ishii.

Speaking at the 10th Private Sector Forum of the ICT Capacity Building Programme in Colombo yesterday she said that the BPO industry is a US S 100 billion industry. "India is surging ahead in the industry and it had created over one million jobs.

In addition its total revenue was at US $ 20 billion which is half of India exports," she said.

The Country Director said that BPO industry should be more aggressively promoted as it has multi ranging benefits for a country like Sri Lanka. She said that the World Bank too was assisting E Sri Lanka program for over three years and would continue.

According to the ICT Workforce Survey 2007, the Sri Lankan ICT industry can absorb 3,000-4,000 employees on an annual basis.

Sri Lanka's inability to meet these needs has had significant negative impacts on its ICT Industry.

To develop a plan to increase the number of Sri Lankans employable by the ICT industry, the ICBP supported the five associations that are represented in its advisory committee in hosting the National ICT Capacity Summit (NICS) on August 31, 2007.

The 10th Private Sector Forum organised by the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) is a platform used by the ICT Industry and other stakeholders to exchange views on the ICT Agency driven programs.

The highlight of the event was the completion of two years of the ICT Capacity Building Programme (ICBP), a programme implemented by ICTA which is a US$5.2 million initiative to provide a short-term boost to private sector and provide a comprehensive update on the developments of this program was given at this forum.

The ICT Capacity Building Programme (ICBP) is a business support initiative, conceptualised by Sri Lanka's ICT Agency in conjunction with the private sector, with the vision of enhancing the nation's ICT capacity competitiveness in the global business arena.

Its primary focus is the Private Sector enterprises engages in hardware, software IT enabled services and ICT training providers and is funded by the World Bank.