To increase investments into the IT sector, the Sri Lankan government has appointed Infosys [Get Quote] chief mentor, N R Narayana Murthy, as the international adviser on information technology to President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

"Mr Murthy was appointed as the international adviser to the Sri Lankan President and he has accepted it", Sri Lankan foreign secretary Palitha Kohona said.

Rajapaksa made the appointment after inviting Murthy as the chief guest to the ceremonial launch of '2009-Year of English and Information Technology' at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo on Friday.

Speaking at the event, Rajapaksa said the great success of India in the field of Information Technology in the recent years has highly inspired Sri Lanka.

"It is for this reason that we have turned to India in addition to other countries for technical support to strengthen our own endeavours. We are honoured by the presence today of Narayana Murthy, 'the father of IT in India' and the chairman and mentor of the world famous Infosys," President Rajapaksa said on Friday.