Lanka IT sector to hit $1B mark next year

Note: The following entry was made with respect to this article.

When we consider the past, 10 or 20 years back, the IT sector in Sri Lanka was a mere contribution to the economy of the country. Only a very few urban schools were supporting IT facilities for the children. Also, the country had a burning problem of the civil war that lasted almost for 3 decades. Because of these reasons, IT sector was not distributed in the rural areas, as well as, in the Northern Province.

With the end of the civil war, the pioneer companies associated with the IT industry, together with the government, launched various projects to develop the IT sector.

Sri Lanka has earned $719 Million from ICT exports and is hoping to earn $820 Million in 2014. According to the currently available data and a growth rate of 123% in IT sector over the last five years, Sri Lanka will be able to earn $1B in 2015. These data were presented by Mr. Saman Maldeni (Director, Export Services of SLEDB) during the IT week held in Jaffna according to this article.

When we consider the current trends in the IT sector, this is an affordable target for the IT sector. Sri Lanka has allocated a considerable amount of resources for the development of IT industry and thanks to that, every school child in each nook and corner of the country has some kind of IT knowledge. Not only that, IT jobs are available for the younger generation also. Even an IT week was held in Jaffna successfully. According to Mr. Mano Sekaram (SLASSCOM Vice Chairman), five years ago conducting such a week was a mere dream.

Figure 1 – Computer Literacy in Sri Lanka

The computer literacy of Sri Lanka  (Figure 1) has been developed through the past few years showing some positive signs towards the target the country is expecting in 2015. Because of this, the country is expecting to achieve 100, 000 IT sector employment in 2015.

Sri Lanka Exports Development Board (EDB), which is one of the pioneers in IT sector development, has conducted many IT-related events, conferences, trade exhibitions etc.This probably is a huge investment in the IT industry.

Hence, regarding the facts presented in this article, we can clearly see that the target of $1B in 2015 is an achievable one for the IT sector in Sri Lanka.

References:

• http://www.statistics.gov.lk/CLS/
• http://www.development.lk/news_details-7-1604.html