Sri Lanka’s state-owned Bank of Ceylon (BOC) is embarking on an ambitious plan to lure Indian businessmen to invest in organic agriculture in the North and East and to provide financial services for 60,000 Sri Lankan refugees currently living in Tamil Nadu as refugees, the bank chief said.
The BOC will open four more branches in India shortly to facilitate financial transactions of refugees who will be resettled in the North as well as Indian tourists and Indo-Lanka passengers using the ferry service between Colombo and Tuticorin, BOC Chairman Gamini Wickramasinghe told the Business Times on Thursday after his return from an official visit to India. The BOC branch in Chennai will function as the head office of the Indian operation, he disclosed.
Mr. Wickramasinghe revealed that the BOC will open two branches in Rameshwaram and Tuticorin before the end of this year. He added “We have already identified suitable locations to establish the proposed branches”. He pointed out that Tuticorin is important for the bank because of the proposed ferry service from there to Colombo is expected to generate lot of trade activities between the two countries. The BOC will meet the Indian banking regulation of investing US$25 million to set up at least four branches in Indian states.
The BOC will open bank accounts for Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu who have made substantial savings by doing various jobs through these bank branches and convert Indian rupees to US$ with the approval of the exchange control department of the Central Bank. These people can withdraw their money in Sri Lankan currency when they are resettled in the North, Mr. Wickramasinghe said. The other objective is to provide financial services for Sri Lankans of Indian origin who were sent to India under the Sirima-Shastri Pact of 1964. Most of these people are doing well in India as businessmen and they have expressed willingness to do business with Sri Lanka, he added.
The BOC head noted that his bank will assist Indian businessmen who have already expressed willingness to start diary projects and the cultivation of fruits and vegetables using organic fertilizer with modern agro techniques. The proposed BOC branches in India aim to target this segment to expedite the development process in the North and East, he said. Several members of the Indo –Lanka business council expressed their willingness to enter into agriculture, fisheries and diary industry in Sri Lanka at a meeting presided over by him in Chennai during his tour of India. |
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