Category: General Services

June 28, 2006 (LBO) – HDFC Bank, the island’s largest housing bank, plans to expand its core business with moves to get into property development, an equity research firm said Wednesday. Executed through a fully-owned subsidiary HDFC Real Estate Development Ltd the state-run housing bank hopes to pay for the mammoth projects by leveraging its […]

June 28 (LBO) – Sri Lanka™s Board of Investment has re-done its tax incentive scheme with an emphasis on off-shore investments and large scale infrastructure projects. The traditional five year tax holiday will be replaced with a more rationalised scheme to raise the quality of investments, BOI chief Lakshman Watawala told businessmen on Wednesday. The […]

June 27, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Asha Central Hospital has bought land in Colombo to build a new 200-bed hospital, its Managing Director said Tuesday. The attractive fiscal incentives offered by the government to attract foreign and local investment to the health care industry have also helped spur growth. The 180-perches block of land, […]

June 26, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Monday asked satellite television broadcasters to get themselves registered and fixed an annual fee of 500,000 rupees. The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission said cable distribution networks and satellite communications networks have to apply by July 21, 2006 to secure a license. It applies to all satellite or cable television […]

June 15, 2006 (LBO) – India has called for a meeting with Sri Lankan vanaspati producers on Friday to iron out issues, in the latest saga that has brought trade relations between both nations to a boiling point. Sri Lanka™s shipments of vanasapati an edible oil mainly used for cooking purposes came to a standstill […]

June 14 (LBO) – The Treasury has drawn up a list of tax rates and concessions on imported Hollywood and Bollywood blockbusters, likely to be finalised this week. The controversial tax, announced in the government™s budget this year, could possibly be set at 75,000 rupees (750 dollars) for every half hour program, sitcom or serial. […]

June 13 (LBO) – Sri Lankan employers are to work with trade unions to build dialogue in key areas like health, education and power, under a European Union funded project. The 12 month project will work with three government sector departments and four private sector agencies on tools for negotiation, social dialogue and governance, a […]

June 11, 2006 (LBO) – Two kinds of oil. One fires up vehicles, the other adds flavour to cooking. The two have managed to create a nasty oil spill between Sri Lanka and India, with trade relations between both countries simmering to boiling point. The spat between Colombo and Indian Oil Corp’s local unit over […]

June 11, 2006 (LBO) – Two kinds of oil. One fires up vehicles, the other adds flavour to cooking. The two have managed to create a nasty oil spill between Sri Lanka and India, with trade relations between both countries simmering to boiling point. The spat between Colombo and Indian Oil Corp’s local unit over […]

June 08 (LBO) – The Asia Pacific Trade Agreement between six Asia Pacific countries including Sri Lanka will kick off on July 1 this year, offering deep tariff cuts on several goods. Sri Lanka will enjoy margins of preference of up to 50 percent on goods like coconut products, spices, tea and rubber to Bangladesh, […]

June 05 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will fight new Indian restrictions on duty free vanaspati exports, ahead of another round of Indo-Lanka trade talks at the end of June. Duty free exports of Vanaspati a hydrogenated vegetable oil, has been a sore point in Indo-Sri Lanka trade relations, with Sri Lanka accused of flooding Indian […]

June 02 (LBO) – A government help line linked up to 20 key state departments is to be rolled out soon, to offer general public information from getting birth certificates to a driving license. The Government Information Centre (GIC), accessed by dialing 1919 from anywhere in the island, is still in beta testing stages and […]