Information technology in Sri Lanka

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Information Technology in Sri Lanka refers to business process outsourcing, knowledge process outsourcing, software development, IT Services , and IT education in Sri Lanka. [1] Sri Lanka is always ranked among the top 50 outsourcing destinations by AT Kearney, and Colombo and ranked among "Top 20 Emerging Cities" by Global Services Magazine. [2] The export revenue of this industry grew from USD 213 million in 2007 to USD 1.2 billion in 2021. [3] [4] [5] [6]

Contents

History

For the purpose of developing IT in Sri Lanka, Computer Society of Sri Lanka was started in 1976. [7] Sri Lanka's IT, KPO/BPO industry has a short span of history starting around 2000. [1] IT/BPO sector has been identified as a priority sector for economic development in the country. [3]

Business process outsourcing

Sri Lanka is an offshore development center and Joint venture hub for several Fortune 500 companies from North America, UK, Australia, Sweden, Norway and Japan. Well known customers of Sri Lankan BPO industry include Google, J.P. Morgan & Co, Microsoft, Emirates , Infor and Qatar Airways. [3] [4]

Rankings

Publication [3] PublisherRank
Location Trends Reports IBM 12
Global Services Location Index AT Kearney within top 25
Leading Locations For Offshore Services Gartner within top 30
Global Centers of Excellence for Finance & Accounting OutsourcingGlobal Serviceswithin top 19
Emerging Global Cities For Finance & Accounting OutsourcingTholons7
Outsourcing Destination of the Year National Outsourcing Association 1

Government Bodies

The prominent government body related to IT in Sri Lanka is the Ministry of Technology. [8] Other than that Ministries of Education, Skills development are working on developing the education while Ministry of Industry and Commerce is on industrial level activities. [9]

Revenue Statistics

YearTotal Export Revenue
of ICT/ BPM [5] [10]

(in million. US$)

2018Increase2.svg$1,035.00
2019Increase2.svg$1,089.00
2020Decrease2.svg$1,011.00
2021Increase2.svg$1,217.00

Legislation

IT in Sri Lanka is governed under the Information and Communication Technology Act No. 27 of 2003. [11] [12]

Other Related Acts

  1. Electronic Transactions Act, No. 19 OF 2006
  2. National Digital Policy for Sri Lanka
  3. Data Protection Bill
  4. Telecommunication Levy Act, No. 21 OF 2011
  5. Telecommunication Levy Act(Amendment) Act, No. 8 OF 2013

Agencies

  1. The Information and Communication Technology Agency (Sri Lanka)
  2. Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (SLCERT)
  3. Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka Archived 2021-10-29 at the Wayback Machine (TRCSL)

Organisations

  1. Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) similar to India's NASSCOM is another agency working on the development of business, education and employment. [13]
  1. The Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS)
  2. The ICT Industry Skills Council (ICTISC)

Recent development

There are many global IT services companies established in Sri Lanka such as HSBC, IFS, Intel, Motorola, WNS,RR Donnelley, Virtusa, Pearsons and Accenture. [3]

IT parks

Virtusa At Orion Cirt IT Park Virtusa.jpg
Virtusa At Orion Cirt IT Park
Millennium Information Technologies Campus At Malabe Millennium Information Technologies.JPG
Millennium Information Technologies Campus At Malabe
Trace Expert City Trace expert city.png
Trace Expert City

Sri Lanka has few government owned and privately managed IT Parks. [14]

Orion City IT Park established in 2009 is a privately owned IT park situated in Dematagoda area in Colombo. The Park is spread over 16 acres and currently has 800,000 sq feet of developed space. [15] Currently this park houses, Virtusa, IFS AB, WNS Global Services and several other IT and non-IT companies. [16]

In 2011 a full featured IT park was proposed to be built at Hambantota as a government project. [17] In 2012 this project was approved by the Cabinet. [18]

TRACE Expert City is a similar project, developed by the Urban Development Authority, working with the Ministry of Defense. It is situated in Maradana. [19]

In February 2016 India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced that they are offering an IT park for Sri Lanka considering the IT industry's importance in the country. [20]

Employment

According to the National ICT workforce Survey 2013, the positive domestic developments and gradual recovery of the global economic situation have created a conducive environment for growth of the industry’s workforce and the projection figure shows that this trend is likely to continue. The overall workforce has grown to 75,107 in 2013 with a projection. In 2013, 63% of the workforce held graduate or post-graduate level qualifications. [3]

The IT industry has become one of the largest sectors in producing employment opportunities in Sri Lanka by creating thousands of IT job openings. [21] Notably, many foreign IT companies start production officers in Sri Lanka due to the wide availability high quality skilled resources and relatively low operational costs.

IT education

Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology SLIIT MLB 1.jpg
Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology

Secondary Education

In the national level curriculum, first computer related subject taught at public schools is Information and Communication Technology. This is an elective subject for GCE Ordinary Level in Sri Lanka. For GCE Advanced Level in Sri Lanka a compulsory subject and an exam called General Information Technology was introduced considering the need of IT literacy for every student. Under the technology stream introduced for GCE Advanced Level in past years a new main subject for IT, Information and Communication Technology is added. [22] [23]

Higher Education

With the rapid development of IT industry and increasing job demand in the 1990s, steps were taken by both government and private sector to improve the IT education across the country.

Criticism

CEPA Controversy

In 2016 January, the Sri Lankan government announced that Indo-Sri Lankan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and Sri Lanka will be finalized. It is assumed that Sri Lankan IT industry's job market will be opened to Indians by this agreement causing unemployment among Sri Lankans. [24] [25] [26]

Future

Sri Lanka's IT industry's goal is to achieve USD 5 billion in exports by 2022 while creating 200,000 jobs and uplifting 1,000 tech start-ups. [27]

See also

Related Research Articles

Outsourcing includes both foreign and domestic forms of outside contracting. It is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to another. The term outsourcing, which came from the phrase outside resourcing, originated no later than 1981 at a time when industrial jobs in the United States were being moved overseas, contributing to the economic and cultural collapse of small, industrial towns.

Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) describes the outsourcing of core information-related business activities which are competitively important or form an integral part of a company's value chain. KPO requires advanced analytical and technical skills as well as a high degree of specialist expertise.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Sri Lanka</span> Overview of education in Sri Lanka

Education in Sri Lanka has a long history that dates back two millennia. While the Constitution of Sri Lanka does not provide free education as a fundamental right, the constitution mentions that 'the complete eradication of illiteracy and the assurance to all persons of the right to universal and equal access to education at all levels" in its section on directive principles of state policy at (27. Sri Lanka's population had an adult literacy rate of 96.3% in 2015, which is above average by world and regional standards. Computer literacy in 2017 28.3% and phone users in 2017 105%, website users 32% in 2017. Education plays a major part in the life and culture of the country, which dates back to 543 BC. Sri Lanka's modern educational system modeled after Christian missionary system was brought about by its integration into the British Empire in the 19th century. Education currently falls under the control of both the Central Government and the Provincial Councils, with some responsibilities lying with the Central Government and the Provincial Council having autonomy for others. Education institutions with a tradition dating back to 5 BC are largely ignored by the state.

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The information technology (I.T.) industry in India comprises information technology services and business process outsourcing. The share of the IT-BPM sector in the GDP of India is 7.4% in FY 2022. The IT and BPM industries' revenue is estimated at US$ 245 billion in FY 2023. The domestic revenue of the IT industry is estimated at $51 billion, and export revenue is estimated at $194 billion in FY 2023. The IT–BPM sector overall employs 5.4 million people as of March 2023. In December 2022, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha informed that IT units registered with state-run Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and Special Economic Zones have exported software worth Rs 11.59 lakh crore in 2021–22.

The Sri Lankan Advanced Level (A-level), is a General Certificate of Education (GCE) qualification exam in Sri Lanka, similar to the British Advanced Level, conducted annually by the Department of Examinations of the Ministry of Education. It is usually taken by students during the final two years of collegiate level (grade 12 and 13 or external candidates, after they have completed GCE Ordinary Level exams. The majority of candidates enter the exams via their respective schools, while candidates who have finished school education can also apply as private applicants. The qualification also serves as an entrance requirement for Sri Lankan state universities. The exams are held in three mediums: Sinhala, Tamil and English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">ESOFT Metro Campus</span>

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