Lanka expecting $100-mn FDI from India by end-December

Sri Lanka is expecting a foreign direct investment (FDI) from India to the tune of $100-million by end-December, a senior Lankan government official said today.        

"We are targeting FDI worth $1,000-million by the end of this year (2009) and India's contribution this year is expected to be around $100-million," Sri Lanka's Minister of Investment Promotion Navin Dissanayake told PTI here.        

He was in the city to meet with Indian investors, including big conglomerates such as the Tata group.        

In 2008, Sri Lanka attracted a total FDI of $889-million out of which India's contribution was $126-million, he said. 

"Last year, out of the $126-million FDI which came from India, a major share of around $100-million came from Bharti Airtel," Dissanayake said.        

India's largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, has started its mobile services in Sri Lanka under the Airtel brand.The company has announced a total investment of $200-million till 2012 in Sri Lanka.        

Bharti Airtel has also ventured into Seychelles, Jersey and Guernsey.Dissanayake, however, said that attracting FDI investment might be a difficult task for the island country as the decades-old civil war in that country has just ended.        

"It will take some time for investments to grow," he said.

"We are bullish on sectors like IT which includes setting up of BPOs, property development, infrastructure development and energy, where India can contribute," Dissanayake said.