Financial Times

Lankan firm puts India on new track
A Sri Lankan company is helping India launch its first high-tech railway network on November 19.

The entire electrical power distribution and control for the Delhi metro network are to be carried out through electrical panel boards manufactured by KIK Lanka Pvt. Ltd, a BOI approved company situated at the Katunayake Free Trade Zone. The company said that while participating at an exhibition two years ago in Delhi it was encouraged to put forward proposals for the project by the Chairman of Neptune India Pvt Ltd.

The thumbs up came after Indian metro engineers, consultants and multi national contractors approved the high standards of quality maintained by the company. "Various specifications were required and very few companies could maintain such high standards for the project," noted KIK chairman Lalith Kahatapitiya.

He said India was an open market for Sri Lankan manufacturers of all areas considering India's annual imports were in the region of US$ 60 billion while Sri Lanka's total export figure was only $5 billion. A chartered Engineer, Kahatapitiya said that although the Indo-Lanka free trade agreement offered opportunities of low duty imports Lankan manufacturers and exporters were not able to tap into even one percent of their annual imports.

He said if Sri Lanka did meet India's demand for goods it had a strong chance of competing against other countries where the Indian market was concerned. The Delhi underground railway network consists of four underground railway stations. Electrical panel boards manufactured under ISO 9001 2000 quality standards will distribute and automatically control the electric power of the tunnel ventilation, air-conditioning, lifts and escalators including all other requirements of electric power in the underground railway stations.

Highest quality raw material and electrical switchgear are used for all their products made based on Elsteel Enclosure systems manufactured by a Danish investor in the Katunayake free trade Zone. The company has also manufactured power distribution boards for JAIC Hilton towers, Crescat Boulevard, Bank of Ceylon as well as products for the Bank of Maldives, in Male and switch boards for the Colombo harbour etc.

The 10-year old KIK group, one of the leading exporters of low voltage electrical panels to countries such as Singapore, Maldives, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Rwanda, Burma, Iran and Sudan, also has a branch in Chennai which promotes Sri Lankan products.

In addition it also exports Indian products to other countries while importing and distributing international branded products. Being the first Sri Lankan company to supply such equipment to a large scale project in India, Kahatapitiya reiterated the need for Sri Lankan manufacturers and exporters to concentrate on the demand for goods presented by India saying it had freely opened its market for local products, and employment opportunities could be generated, while the country's export revenue could also be improved.

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