Sri Lanka’s Information Technology (IT) sector, a vibrant dynamic industry is now poised for unprecedented progress by making use of capital raising opportunities being provided through public listing at the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE).
A sum of LKR 3 billion that has been granted by the Finance Ministry to the IT sector over the course of the next three years augurs well for national ICT development.
These funds will be allocated by way of grants, equity investments, credit facilities, mentoring, and technical support with the end goal of developing local startups and attract foreign investors.
A further allocation of LKR 300 million has been made to implement various activities to promote ICT development through the Export Development Board (EDB).
The Chairman of the Federation of Information Technology Industry of Sri Lanka (FITIS), Abbas Kamrudeen noted that equity-based funding will offer IT companies opportunities to pursue growth and realize value.
The CEO of the Colombo Stock Exchange, Rajeeva Bandaranaike pointed out that with the launch of the Empower Board, CSE now has the capacity to cater to both large and SME type equity placements.
He went on to note that a listing on the CSE is a hallmark of prestige and a strong appetite for new equity listings among both local and international investors indicate strong fund-raising potential for companies.
As per the data derived from SLASSCOM (Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies), the industry consists of approximately 130 registered companies, composed of a range of large, medium and small enterprises while the landscape overall has exceeded 300 ICT companies.
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.
Sri Lankan ICT companies exporting software products and services to regions such as North America, EU, Australia, East Asia, Middle East, Africa and Nordic region.
Their core competencies include automated application testing, infrastructure outsourcing, high-end R & D, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Cloud Technology, Mobile Applications and many other Business Solutions.
Sri Lanka also acts as an offshore development centre for several fortune 500 companies from USA, Ireland, UK, Australasia, Sweden and joint venture development companies from Sweden, Norway, USA, Japan, etc
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