The pact will pave the way for small scale Indian businessmen to do business in Sri Lanka and also employ people from their country.

Although it proposes to help Lankans to find jobs in India, noting that India’s unemployed amounts to 50 million, they say such opportunities will not be possible.

If Sri Lanka has a shortage of IT manpower, what the government should do is to implement a mechanism to supply for the demand, they point out.

Engineering will also be impacted, notes the Sri Lanka Institute of Engineers.

According to World Bank data, the statistical comparisons between India and Sri Lanka are as follows:

India                                        Sri Lanka
Population 1.267 billion              20.3 million
Population growth 1.25%            0.86%
Literacy
Workforce 532 million               8.5 million
Unemployment 37.2 million       0.35 million