“Namo Namo Maatha”
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal,Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, UPFA MP Sajin Vass Gunawardene and Colombo Stock Exchange Chairman Vajira Kulatilaka (right) pay attention to the national anthem during Thursday’s opening of the Capital Markets Conference in Colombo.
CIFL depositors face new crisis
Depositors of the failed Central Finance and Investments (CIFL), given some hope by the Central Bank (CB), have been stumped by a possible misunderstanding that their problems are over. At a recent meeting between the CIFLDA (CIFL Depositors Association) and the CB, the latter appeared to indicate that if the association withdraws its case in [...]
Development Budget with ‘election goodies’ thro’ Gazettes
The 2015 budget speech with a development outlook targeting the improvement of rural economy and infrastructure will be confined to highlighting the country’s current status of the economy, revenue and expenditure, proposals formulated to ensure development by creating more livelihood and employment opportunities, food security, energy security and environmental safety with particular emphasis on low [...]
Powerful motorcycles soon on local roads
Sri Lanka is to allow the import of high powered motorcycles with engine capacity ranging from 450cc to 1001cc with the approval of the Treasury under a gazette notification stipulating the new duty and taxes, Motor Traffic Department (MTD) sources revealed. A new duty structure for motor cycles is expected to be announced in the [...]
MTD Walkers expands into marine sector
MTD Walkers PLC (MTD), the infrastructure development company, in a bid to expand its core competencies is actively looking at expanding to the Middle East and Africa, while also eyeing Myanmar in the construction sector, officials said. “We are in discussion with construction companies in the Middle East and African region,” Jehan Amaratunga, Deputy Chairman [...]
Treasury ignores AR/FRs to import 1000 pickup vehicles for state agencies
Overlooking AR and FR (Administration and Financial Regulations), the Treasury is to import 1000 pickup vehicles for state agencies (Ministries, Departments, Corporations and state institutions) on the eve of the 2015 budget bypassing tender procedures, informed sources revealed. The Treasury has picked United Motors Lanka PLC this time to purchase these 1000 vehicles without the [...]
150 years of railway but no celebration in sight
Colleagues who worked in neighbouring India, particularly the bustling commercial capital Mumbai, speak enthusiastically about the efficiency of the railroad. Most workers – big or small; ordinary workers or CEOs – commute by train to the city from distances as far as 40 to 80 km covering the distance in minutes due to the speed [...]
Low interest rates yet to stimulate private investment
The Central Bank (CB) in its recent Monetary Policy Review – September 2014 has announced a continuation of its low interest rate policy stance. Accordingly, the CB’s Standing Deposit Facility Rate or SDFR (rate applicable for placement of overnight excess funds of commercial banks) will remain unchanged at 6.5 per cent per annum and the [...]
Treasury elements blocking ‘decent work’ proposals, unions claim
Powerful elements in Sri Lanka’s Treasury Department are blocking approved proposals to ensure permanency for workers from manpower agencies, says a grouping of trade unions. In a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the appeal said that, “Reasons for such long delay in approving the amendment by the cabinet of ministers, as we have come to [...]
Daya Senanayake waits 3 years for a patent that could produce cheap energy from the sea
Many who submit their inventions to the National Intellectual Property Office of Sri Lanka (NIPOSL), for patent rights complain that they are compelled to wait for more than three years to obtain it. There are also complaints of leakage of these exclusive formulas despite the exclusive rights and those who obtain these formulas fraudulently manufacture [...]
Reverse engineering of innovations an opportunity for SL
Reverse engineering innovations and making them more cost effective and customer accessible is an opportunity for Sri Lankan businesses, according to Nathan Sivagananathan, the Chief Executive Officer of MAS Designs. Further, he also cited examples including Tata’s Nano car, Dialog’s prepaid offerings and Unilever’s shampoo sachets, which took up reverse engineering and kept the consumers [...]
Major challenges confront Sri Lanka’s spice exporters
Major challenges confront Sri Lanka’s spices’ industry with regard to production, productivity, quality, value addition and branding and if these challenges are successfully tackled, production could be doubled. This was pointed out by Sarada De Silva, out-going Chairman, The Spice Council (TSC) at its 11th AGM held in Colombo last week. Nanda Kohona was elected [...]
Sri Lanka’s infrastructure development on bilateral loans:Who is helping whom?
Recognising a help and expressing gratitude for it is a worthy human gesture. This applies to groups, societies, or even countries. Non recognition of a helping hand given is considered unkind and disgraceful. Worse is when parties unrelated are praised when the true helper is elsewhere unrecognised. In Sinhalese tradition, such behaviour is deplored, and [...]
Rush-thro’ budget another attempt by Rajapaksa administration to undermine democracy, says UNP MP
The Rajapaksa administration is trying to ram the 2014 budget through parliament by deliberately cutting the debate short, Opposition MP Eran Wickramaratne has alleged, In a statement to the media on Wednesday, he said that this is yet another attempt to undermine democracy, Parliament and in the process the rights and freedoms of the people [...]
JKH wildlife conservation efforts extend to drought relief for animals at Yala National Park
Cinnamon Wild Yala in collaboration with John Keells Foundation, the group’s CSR entity, recently arranged 30 bowser loads of 15,000 litres each, filling and maintaining several medium scale water holes inside the Yala National Park where animals have ben affected by a severe drought. Walkers Tours joined in this effort by raising funds for 12 [...]
Sri Lanka’s Employers’ Grouping hailed as exemplary unit by ILO
The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC) of Sri Lanka, the premier employer representative organisation in Sri Lanka, was complemented by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) last week. This occurred at an event held at the Water’s Edge, Battaramulla, to launch a scheme to present an independent audited information of corporate entities on compliance on – [...]
Better to keep your money at home
‘Banks spend huge sums on technology and keep on advertising the virtues of going high tech to woo customers. However in certain areas the services expected have deteriorated. Some years back we were able to speak to relationship managers on their direct lines. Now we have to go through telephone answering systems pressing several buttons [...]
Multi Finance profits up 120% in the first quarter 2014/15
sMulti Finance PLC recorded a 120 per cent increase in its bottom line in the first quarter ended 30th June 2014 recording a net profit of Rs. 8.6 million against a loss of Rs. 39.2 million loss in the preceding quarter 2013, as per published accounts. During the quarter under review, net income from operations [...]
Dell says it is ‘No. 1 PC vendor’ in SL
The local office of computer giant Dell recently announced that it has captured 38.5 per cent of overall share in Sri Lanka’s PC market, further saying that this figure signals that it is the “No.1 PC vendor in the country”. Further attributing this claim to the “latest report disseminated by the International Data Corporation (IDC)”, [...]
Sri Lankan youth projects win World Bank grants
Two Sri Lankan nonprofits, Sri Lanka Anti-Narcotics Association (SLANA) and the Karuna Trust, were awarded grants from the World Bank and Microsoft, to finance development projects aimed at training youth to enhance their work through the use of coding and information technology. SLANA and the Karuna Trust were placed first and second respectively, from amongst [...]
Paradigm shift for CSR in Sri Lanka
CSR Lanka (Guarantee) Ltd was launched last week with a charter signed by the Chairman and Board of Directors of the company. “The charter pledged to practise and spearhead their mission of providing strategic guidance and necessary resources to create long term sustainable value in CSR efforts of the corporate sector including small and medium [...]
Hutch gifts Patient Management System to Batticaloa Teaching Hospital
Hutchison Telecommunications Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, in what it described as a ‘community centric move that aptly demonstrates the company’s operational ethos’, last week announced its sponsorship of a revolutionary Patient Management System for the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital. “We believe that the system we have helped introduce here will improve the well-being of mothers and children [...]
“Public Policy forum at PGIM draws strong views on governance, transparency”
In the Business Times story last week under the above heading, an error had crept in the description of the organization. The Postgraduate Institute of Management goes by the acronym ‘PIM’ and not ‘PGIM” (which is the acronym used by the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine) as reported. The error is regretted.
Nestlé Lanka felicitates 1,200 local dairy farmers
Celebrating 30 years of ‘Empowering Sri Lankan Dairy Farmers’, Nestlé Lanka PLC recently felicitated 1,200 of its dairy farmers for their outstanding contribution towards the development of Sri Lanka’s dairy industry under the patronage of Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of Economic Development. At the ceremony in Colombo last week, the Minister said that developing the local [...]
VMware signs up Brandix, for ‘journey to the cloud’
US-based VMware recently announced that it had signed up Sri Lanka’s Brandix, helping further the local apparel maker’s “journey to the cloud”. According to the announcement, “Brandix Lanka has chosen VMware’s virtualisation and cloud infrastructure technology to further its cloud strategy. Brandix anticipates this deployment to help the company reduce capital and operational costs annually [...]
Construction of Tata housing mixed development project in Slave Island gets underway
Construction work of the US$400 million mixed development project at Slave Island undertaken by India’s Tata housing, the real estate arm of the Tata, is now underway. D.P. Jayasinghe Piling Company (Pvt) Ltd has started the piling construction of the first phase of the housing project for displaced residents. In keeping with the company policy [...]
Planters should rally round Sri Lankan President, says Planter’s Society President
The Ceylon Planter’s Society (CPS) has urged its members to rally round the political leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa who has eradicated terrorism and launched a number of mega development projects. “We should take a close look at the progress Sri Lanka has achieved since, President Rajapakse took office, when terrorism was at its peak [...]
Pakistan to restrict auto spare parts imports from Sri Lanka under FTA
Pakistan is to impose restrictions on auto spare parts imports from Sri Lanka under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries as it indirectly provides market access to India which is planning to set up joint ventures with the island nation, official sources revealed. The entry of Indian auto components to Pakistan via [...]
Continental AG ties up with DSL seeking Sri Lanka’s premium tyre market
Sri Lanka’s luxury car market is growing rapidly with the increasing demand of premium tyres for safety driving on newly built express highways, a marketing assessment conducted by international tyre manufacturer and automotive supplier Continental revealed. Continental AG has conducted an assessment on Sri Lanka’s tyre market and it has identified the future potential for [...]
Micro Cars SsangYong ‘Rexton W’ fetches high demand
Micro Cars Ltd’s SsangYong’s facelift version of the flagship model Rexton W, a SUV, received high response from buyers for the first three batches of production, resulting in all SUVs being pre-sold, officials of the company said in a media statement. All units were pre-sold prior to its production at Micro Cars Ltd’s new state-of-the-art [...]
Falck Sri Lanka provides first aid training to reduce fatalities in road accidents
Falck Sri Lanka, the first South Asian unit of Falck Denmark, a world’s leading Emergency Medical Service provider, has stepped into provide emergency first aid training for policemen, motorists specially the passenger transport vehicle drivers, and three wheeler drivers as they will be the first responders if any road traffic accidents occur in the surrounding [...]
SML Frontier Automotive ‘on the ramp’ at CFW with capsule collection ‘Conscience’
sSML Frontier Automotive (Pvt) Ltd, sole agents for Land Rover, showcased its capsule collection which was launched at CFW – Resort Wear 2015 under the label “Conscience”, to an appreciative audience at the Jetwing Blue Hotel, a media release issued by the company said. Designed by Ajai Vir Singh who is partnering SML Frontier Automotive [...]
India Mahindra to buy 51 per cent stake in Peugeot scooter unit
NEW DELHI, (AFP) – Leading Indian vehicle manufacturer Mahindra announced Tuesday a binding offer to buy a majority stake in France’s Peugeot Motorcycles, the world’s oldest motorcycle-maker, as it seeks new technology to drive sales. Mahindra Two Wheelers Ltd, an unlisted arm of Mahindra & Mahindra, said its “binding offer” for the 51-percent stake would [...]
Vehicle trans-shipment picks up at Hambantota port
Vehicle trans-shipment and import operations are picking up at Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port in the South with 161 car carriers calling up to September this year, Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) sources revealed. A senior official of the Authority told the Business Times that the Hambantota port had trans-shipped 97.233 units and also unloaded 19.628 [...]
Health for all and all for health
There has not been a single day that passes without an accusation made by the Minister of Health. He blames individuals; he blames officials; he blames trade unions; he blames the industry; he blames anyone and anything connected to health; he laments that he is all alone. Only two persons are spared; himself and the [...]
Governance issues are global not country specific, says PB
Some surveys in multifaceted variables that affect broad governance are reflections that governance issues are global and no country is free from such concerns. What is important is to manage them well and not to be in the worst lot, according to Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera. “We aren’t in the worst lot or in [...]
Sri Lankan shoe makers face growing threat of bankruptcy
Some 30,000 workers could lose their jobs in the face of a growing threat of bankruptcy faced by Sri Lankan footwear and leather product manufacturers due to imports of cheap Chinese and Indian Bangladeshi, Vietnamese and Indonesian products taking advanage of the present duty structure, local manufacturers warned Ten large export companies, 30 medium scale [...]
Cambridge Schools International Conference in Colombo in December
Cambridge teachers from across the world are meeting in Sri Lanka on December 3-5 at the Northshore College of Business and Technology, Colombo for the annual Cambridge Schools (international) Conference. The theme of the meeting is “Inspiring teaching, inspiring learning.” It will explore the methodologies and best practices to promote inspiring classroom practice, the UK-based [...]
Sri Lankan DMC Aitken Spence Travels awarded a prestigious PATA Gold Awards
Aitken Spence Travels, Sri Lanka’s largest Destination Management Company (DMC) was the only DMC in Sri Lanka to be awarded a prestigious Gold Award at the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Awards 2014 ceremony, for its innovative ecotourism concept – ‘Elpitiya Plantations Excursions’ in the Environment category. The award was presented by Susana Alexandre Ferreira [...]
Ceylon Hotel School graduates meet for the 43rd time
The 43rd AGM of the Ceylon Hotel School Graduates Association (CHSGA) was held recently under the patronage of Chief Guest Paddy Witharana and Dr Don S. Jayaweera, Director General of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority as the guest of Honour. Over 300 members and their families took part. The new office bearers of the [...]
Pan Asia Bank debenture issue to open on 24th October
Excerpts from an interview with Dimantha Seneviratne – Director/CEO of Pan Asia Bank Question: What prompted Pan Asia to issue debentures? Answer: Pan Asia Bank has seen a significant growth in the balance sheet recently. For the first half of year 2014, our advance growth rate was over 12%. Whilst bulk of this growth would [...]
Chariot fuels healthy lives
Chariot, famous for mouthwatering short-eats, tasty Sri Lankan dishes and delicious sweets, plans to introduce nutritional and healthy meals for corporate clients, and upper and middle class families through its food outlets and catering business. The Chariot chain of restaurants’ new management is headed by young entrepreneur Shehan Gomez, an old Thomian with a Malaysian [...]
