Indo-Lanka trade hits $ 4 billion

The final figure of Indo-Sri Lanka bilateral trade would cross US$ 4 billion for 2011, up from US$ 3 billion in 2010, the latest trade statistics have revealed. Indo-Lanka trade was US $ 656 million in 2000.

Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen told a networking session on the last day of the three-day Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Summit 2012 on Friday that were a lot of opportunities for the two countries to partner for economic growth. India is now the third largest buyer of Sri Lankan products.“The Indo-Lanka Free Trade agreement had helped Sri Lanka to diversify its portfolio of exports to India,” he said.

He said Sri Lanka has come out with a string of incentives to overseas investors in the strategic sector such as a 25-year tax holiday. This incentive was extended to NTPC (India’s largest power company), which is setting up a 500 MW power unit in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s import-export ratio is 8:1 at present.

“But there is lot of untapped potential to reduce this mismatch,” the Minister said.

He called upon Indian importers to consider Sri Lanka before negotiating with other countries.

Chairman, CII Southern Region, T.T. Ashok said there were opportunities for India in the Sri Lankan hospitality sector.

Sri Lanka has estimated that there will be 2.5 million overseas visitors in the next two years, he said.

Minister Bathiudeen also extended the official Sri Lankan invitation for ‘Sri Lanka Expo 2012’ to India.