It's destination Lanka for Indian cos

CHENNAI: With the end of the ethnic war in Sri Lanka, the Rajapakse government is dovetailing its policies to become a near shoring destination of India. The idea is to move into business spheres other than just tea and hospitality. As a first step in attracting investments in the former war zones of eastern and northern Sri Lanka, the Lankan government recently announced a 15-year tax holiday for companies setting up operations in these regions. Among those who are queuing up with their investmentbags are NTPC, Cairn, L&T, Purvankara and a host of ITcompanies.NTPC is expected to sign an agreement in the next few daysfor setting up a 1,000 Mw coal based power plant in Trincomalee with aninvestment of $500 million, while Cairn India has got approvals for oilexploration projects at a cost of $400 million. Infrastructure companies Larsen& Toubro and Puravankara are also headed to the island nation for setting upshopping complexes and housing projects. BSNL recently bid for the Sri Lankanoperations of Luxembourg-based mobile service provider, MillicomInternational.Lanka is seeking tech investments too. Meetings withIT majors like mPhasis, HCL and Accenture to set up their delivery centres inSri Lanka have just concluded. ���We have met IT companies like HCL,Mphasis and Accenture for setting up delivery centres and BPOs in Sri Lanka.They have shown interest,��� C Ignatius, director, Board of Investment, theSri Lankan government���s investment promotion agency said.