Yes, you heard it right. Sri Lanka. A nation that has gone through a lot, so much of persistence and courage and struggle. They have been through it all, now slowly seeing light in so many ways. Sri Lanka is one of the few countries to get through the Covid catastrophe successfully, that is just one of the pluses they have out of many. Let’s see why anyone should consider outsourcing in Sri Lanka this season.
- Access to educated workforce Sri Lanka has a literacy rate of over 90%, have more than 20,000 graduates every year from educational institutes in Sri Lanka, providing both specialized soft skills and hard skills. Education standards in Sri Lanka are high with students being involved in extra curricular activities and adding many additional values like IT, fluency in English etc. Sri Lanka is also one of the largest hubs for CIMA graduates in Sri Lanka producing over 14,000 graduates annually – largest force outside the UK.
- Improved labor costs as an outsourcing hub Ranked above 25th on the A.T. Kearney ranking system for best outsourcing destinations in 2017, Sri Lanka manages to keep a secure position every year. Companies can save upto 30% of their labor cost by outsourcing in Sri Lanka according to studies. This makes Sri Lanka a great hub for outsourcing skilled labor.
- Transport – Colombo has a couple of express-ways and a stable road network from the International Airport to the heart of Colombo. Bandaranaike International Airport is a state of the art international airport with more than 20 international airlines offering direct flights to many worldwide destinations including 140 flights per week to most cities worldwide, and travelling to India is just a couple of hours away from Sri Lanka.
- Avoid double taxation – Sri Lanka has signed Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements with 44 countries to eliminate or mitigate the incidence of juridical double taxation and avoidance of fiscal evasion in the international trade (or transactions)
- Entrance to key markets – Sri Lanka’s natural location provides many chances to enter into free trade and partnership agreements with several of Asia’s trade giants which effortlessly opens up an avenue to approach at least two billion people, when venturing into the Sri Lankan market. An added advantage for a company moving to Sri Lanka is the preferential trade access gained to two large regional alliances under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA).
- Treaties & Conventions – Sri Lanka is the only South Asian country to have acceded the Budapest Convention on Cybercrimes and is the only South Asian country to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts. “Sri Lanka has among the most rigorous intellectual property (IP) protection regimes in the region.”
- Government Support – Being the first country to successfully hold elections after the Covid catastrophe, Sri Lanka has a new government in place. The Sri Lankan government is one of the biggest catalysts for driving its IT-BPM industry growth and has publicly shown its commitment by setting the target for IT and BPO being one of the country’s largest export revenue earners by 2022.
- Attrition – Sri Lanka’s IT industry attrition levels are consistently below 20% and is extremely towards the low end compared to most countries in Asia. This portrays a sense of stability and permanence for those looking to invest in Sri Lanka.
Sources:
http://investsrilanka.com/services/access-to-key-markets/
http://investsrilanka.com/services/avoidance-of-double-taxation/