"The single most important aspect is trainability," Roy said in response to a question at a forum organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce on the island's economic revival after the end of the ethnic war.

"We've been in Sri Lanka for about three years and it is a big challenge," Roy said.

"We tried the tricks we tried in India but I'm distressed to report: it didn’t work."

He said the average time taken by their Sri Lankan staff to carry out a task was over 200 percent of what it takes in India.

"At this point in time, it is a big challenge to bring (the business) up to speed," Roy said. "If an employee is not revenue generating, we lose money."

Quatrro's joint venture with the John Keells Holdings conglomerate provides BPO operations in both India and Sri Lanka.

Quatrro's services cover traditional BPO areas such as finance and accounting, mortgage and technical support, as well as newer areas such as legal outsourcing, risk management services, and interactive entertainment services.

JKH in its latest annual report said the group's information technology business made a loss of 167 million rupees last year mainly as a result of losses in the BPO sector being higher than planned.

Roy also said it was important for Sri Lanka to expand higher education and technology training institutions to ensure the supply of trained people if the country wants to attract more BPO business.

He said Sri Lanka had the highest number of British-qualified accountants outside Britain and should capitalise on its own strengths instead of trying to compete with India.