Two-in-one
This contrasting image of two men, one carrying an umbrella and other baskets for sale, was captured at close quarters by photographer Amila Gamage as they crossed paths at Townhall in Colombo.
Changing of the guard at John Keells
John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH), Sri Lanka’s largest listed conglomerate, will see some significant changes at the top in the next 12 months including the expected ascension of Krishan Balendra as the new group chairman. Company sources said that while Mr. Balendra as chairman-designate has been announced internally, it was unclear whether he would take [...]
Sri Lanka public sector grapples with computer upgrades
Amidst the lack of public sector IT experts and severe budgetary constraints, Sri Lanka is seeking foreign agency technical and financial assistance to upgrade its ailing computer systems, software solutions and apps which were installed several years ago, and introduce new systems in state institutions. Upgrading IT systems or procuring new software solutions for crucial [...]
Sri Lankan shipwrecks, new tourist attraction
The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) will propose to the government to encourage shipwreck exploration as a new tourism offering. “We are proposing to the government to have through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) unit to study this sport for the exploration for tourists,” SLTPB Chairman Udaya Nanayakkara told the Business Times on Thursday. [...]
Sri Lanka –Iran banking transactions to resume soon
Sri Lanka –Iran banking transactions will resume soon paving way towards boosting investment and trade between the two countries after the lifting of US economic sanctions against Iran in 2016, Iranian Embassy sources confirmed. Banking issues in trade between the two countries are still to be resolved, a spokesman of the embassy told the Business [...]
Leo Burnett wins gold at Campaign Asia awards; honours continue from 2012
Leo Burnett Sri Lanka, the local office of the global advertising network Leo Burnett Worldwide, recently won yet another Gold award at Campaign Asia’s Agency of the Year awards presentation. The agency secured its fifth Gold award in the ‘Rest of South Asia Creative Agency of the Year’ category, emerging as the best all-round creative [...]
Being prepared
Sitting down to write about public holidays in 2018, I am halted midway when Kussi Amma Sera brings in the morning tea and engages in a conversation. Annoying as it can be, I engage, since trying to shoo….….shoo her away creates a bigger ruckus (cooking angrily in a noisy kitchen), as I have bitterly learnt [...]
Grazing in the Golf Course
Many Sri Lankans are familiar with the name Lee Kuan Yew, the late Prime Minister of Singapore who elevated that country from Third World to the First World status within a period of two decades. With a per capita income of over US$ 50,000 today, Singapore has surpassed even Japan and become the richest country [...]
Opportunity comes knocking on Sri Lanka’s IT industry
COLOMBO – Rishad Premji has a fixation with the word ‘opportunity’. It crops up 22 times during our half-an-hour conversation underlining the importance the scion of one of India’s wealthiest families’ places on seizing the moment. And he believes the time is ripe for Sri Lanka’s small but vibrant software industry to take the next [...]
DIMO 800 gets accolade at National Green Awards 2017
Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC (DIMO) has won a merit award, under the vehicle servicing category for their flagship location DIMO 800, Mercedes-Benz Centre of Excellence for the environmental conservation efforts. It was the only company from the automobile sector to receive an award at the recent National Green Awards 2017. These awards organised by [...]
New vehicle taxes fail to reduce foreign exchange outflows
The system of calculating taxation on vehicle imports in November every year through the budget swings the prices up and down without considering the sentiment of motor traders and buyers, automobile sector analysts and tax experts told the Business Times. The new taxation formula based on vehicle engine capacity has pluses and minuses and no [...]
Certain type of vehicle imports enjoy preferential tariffs under GSTP
Sri Lanka offers preferential tariffs for the import of certain types of motor vehicles under the Globalised System of Trade Preferences (GSTP), Finance Ministry sources revealed. These vehicles are being imported to the country from countries like Thailand, Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore which are members of the GSTP qualified for preferential [...]
Future Automobiles launches new Ford service
Ford customers will be able to get their vehicles serviced in 45 minutes from the Ford Quick-Lane Service launched recently at the Ford Centre in Battaramulla by Future Automobiles (Pvt) Ltd, a subsidiary of Softlogic Holdings PLC, the company disclosed in a media release. This Centre consists of two additional service bays to provide vehicle [...]
Sri Lanka plans to phase out the gas-powered vehicles
Sri Lanka is working on a timeline for phasing out the import of petrol and diesel vehicles. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera has directed the Treasury to work out a plan towards this end. The long term aim is to make Sri Lanka an eco-friendly country by 2040 as a part of the government’s ‘Green imitative’. [...]
Renault Kwid, second highest selling small car in Sri Lanka
Renault Kwid, the main competitor for Maruti ALTO, has become the second highest selling small car in Sri Lanka, after just over a year from its launch in June last year, a top official of the Groupe Renault, Indian Subcontinent said in Colombo recently. “Already we are the number two player and the number one [...]
Sri Lanka to go green via Euro 4
Sri Lankans may begin breathing little easier in the New Year not because of the economic recovery or elections but because of the introduction of Euro 4 fuel standards to ease air pollution. Vehicles with engines that meet the Euro 4 standard should emit 68 per cent less particulate matter (PM), 57 per cent less [...]
Compensation package for CIFL depositors; CB vows strong action against fraudsters
Sri Lanka’s Central Bank (CB) this week announced a compensation package for depositors of the failed Central Investments and Finance PLC (CIFL) while vowing strong action against two other companies that have defrauded depositors. One month after cancelling the CIFL licence after efforts to find new, credible investors proved futile, the banking regulator said the [...]
SL Insurance: Over Rs. 23 bln in GW premiums in 3Q’17
Sri Lanka Insurance, (SLI) the country’s largest insurer, has secured over Rs. 23 billion in Gross Written Premium (GWP) while reporting a post-tax profit of Rs. 9.5 billion for the last quarter ending September 2017. In a media statement, SLI Chairman Hemaka Amarasuriya said both Life and General Insurance contributed to this sound performance of [...]
Techno campus to host international symposium on industrial systems
The Sri Lanka Technological Campus (SLTC) will be hosting its first-ever International Symposium on Industrial Systems (InSys) on December 18 at the SLTC in Padukka. Organised by the Office of Research & Innovation (ORIS) of SLTC, this one-day symposium will bring together industrial experts, innovative academics and researchers from local and overseas universities to a [...]
Futuristic event to mark Sir Arthur C Clarke’s Birth Centenary
The Arthur C Clarke Trust is organising a public forum on the future of Sri Lanka to mark the birth centenary of Sir Arthur C Clarke which falls this month. Titled “Sri Lanka 2048: Imagine the Next 30 Years”, the event will be held on Friday, December 15 from 3 to 5.30 pm at the [...]
Innovative ovens for fish-smoking improve Batti lives
The traditional method of fish-smoking in Unnichchai, a small fishing community in the Batticaloa district sees women spending many hours tending to fish laid out on mesh over smoking coals. Health hazards from smoke inhalation are high, while the output from such intensive labour is often low. That is now changing with the introduction of [...]
Another extension for Bond Commission
Sri Lanka’s Treasury Bond Commission which was widely expected to complete its work by the deadline, December 8 (Friday) and submit a report, got another extension. Appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena, the Commission which has triggered unprecedented coverage and public attention over the alleged misdeeds of the former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran and his [...]
Jetwing sings for its supper with Symphony
Jetwing has set its sights on overseas properties rekindling the Sri Lankan experience, Kamburuketha style in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar even as it launches an IPO for the Jetwing Symphony arm of the group aiming at attracting over Rs.900 million in share purchases. This is aimed at settling its Rs.4 billion debt and investing the [...]
SDB on the move sharp rise in quarterly profits
A surge in profits in the last quarter (ending September 2017) at SANASA Development Bank PLC (SDB) comes just as the bank prepares to roll out by December 31, 2017 its business transformation programme project “Quantum Leap”. Quarterly post-tax earnings rose by a significant 167 per cent against the 3Q2016. With these growth rates, SDB [...]
Sri Lanka falls short of liberalising ‘open skies’
Sri Lanka remains committed to controls on moves to liberalise air transportation in the country even as the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) international conference in Colombo this week sought to enhance the implementation of open skies throughout its member states. Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva addressing the ICAO organised conference the ICAO Air [...]
Netherlands helps to make fish processing industry more export oriented
Sri Lanka’s fish processing industry is to be made more export oriented with effective and efficient value addition with the assistance of the Netherlands expertise. The Ministry of Primary Industries has sought the assistance of PUM Netherlands senior experts, a non-profit organisation, to take the process of fish product value addition to the next level [...]
Top honours for Commercial Bank at CA Sri Lanka’s 53rd Annual Report Awards
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe admitted that the government is at ‘the bottom of financial reporting’ but promised unstinted support for those who will leap to invest, create jobs and dispense high shareholder value through the proposed new development bank. At the 53rd CA Sri Lanka Annual Report Awards held on Tuesday in Colombo, he said [...]
MTI launches 2018 CEO Survey with Wijeya Newspapers
The annual survey will be conducted during the last few weeks of December 2017 and the results released exclusively in Wijeya Newspapers during the fourth week of January 2018. Newspapers in the group include the Lankadeepa, Sunday Times, Daily Mirror, Ada, Daily FT and Tamil Mirror. Over 200 Sri Lankan CEOs from multiple sectors will [...]
Sri Lanka hosts Asian Packaging Federation (APF) summit
The annual sessions of the Asian Packaging Federation (APF) will be held in Colombo on December 10-14 hosted by member organisation, the Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging (SLIP). Conducting the APF event in Sri Lanka this year is of great significance to the packaging fraternity here as the SLIP President Rohan Victoria, who is the [...]
Sri Lanka’s Panditha Bandara honoured in Papua New Guinea
Sri Lankan professional P.M.N. Bandara has received the ‘Member of Logohu’ award from the Governor General of Papua New Guinea Grand Chief Sir Bob Dadae at the investiture ceremony held at the Government House in PNG recently. Mr. Bandara is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Head of Accounting Division of the University of Papua [...]
Rs 1.2 bln IPO to be raised by LVL to develop power sector
Sri Lanka’s hydro power sector is saturated as there are no sites to be developed for hydro power to be tapped, and for this reason Lanka Ventures PLC (LVL) plans to go outside Sri Lanka to build new hydro power projects. LVL CEO Sumith Arangala, speaking at a media briefing in Colombo this week in [...]
Ceylinco Life’s 9-month PBT up 53% to Rs 2.5 bln
Ceylinco Life, in an announcement on Monday, reported ‘exceptionally strong profit growth’ for the nine months ending September 30, 2017 with pre-tax profit up 53 per cent to Rs. 2.5 billion and net profit growing 47 per cent to Rs. 2 billion. The company has recorded net income of Rs. 18.7 billion for the period, [...]
HNB crowned ‘Bank of the Year 2017′ by The Banker Magazine-UK
HNB PLC recorded another landmark victory with its recognition as ‘Bank of the Year 2017′ in Sri Lanka by the highly acclaimed UK-based financial sector magazine, ‘The Banker’, during a ceremony attended by eminent bankers and financial institutions from across the globe recently at the Hilton London Bankside. HNB’s award was presented based on an [...]
CPC crisis due to purchase, storage and distribution issues
In the recent crisis situation of oil supplies experienced by the CPC pushing our country economy to almost a complete halt and breakdown, it is appropriate to analyse the true factors and recommend most urgent solutions to the above problems. As a person who had worked at this corporation some time ago as a fulltime [...]
Colombo celebrates Christmas
Beer and wine are set to overflow as Sri Lanka Tourism gears to celebrate Christmas on the streets of Colombo kick-starting the festivities for the season on December 20-22. Sri Lanka is aiming at creating events in Colombo marking Christmas celebrations with the aim of attracting tourists and locals to participate in seasonal festivities at [...]
Swiss airline to operate seasonal Colombo-Zurich flights from Nov. 2018
Edelweiss, Switzerland’s leading leisure airline and sister company of Swiss International Air Lines, is expanding its route network, starting seasonal flights between Colombo and Zurich – a year from now – from November 3, 2018 onwards. The airline said in an announcement on Monday that an Edelweiss Airbus A340-300 will fly twice weekly between Zurich [...]