Category: Industry
Weighing Odds
May 25, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s excessive holidays, arbitrary salary increases and the government’s reluctance to settle billions to India’s main oil retailer, is turning out to be a stumbling block for Indians to invest here, officials said Thursday. Sri Lanka also wants more shipments of clothes in key categories and a relaxing of […]
Firm Faith
May 25, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s biggest leasing company, People’s Leasing, has begun offering Islamic financial products, catering to Muslims who regard interest-based banking as a sin, a top official said Thursday. Muslims make up around 7.5 percent of this tropical island’s population, but local financial institutions have been slow to tailor-make products to […]
Fresh Look
May 25, 2006 (LBO) – The Hayleys Group said Thursday that Nirmala Gihan Wickremeratne, Deputy Chairman, will succeed Rajan Yatawara as Chairman of the blue chip conglomerate effective 10th January 2007, on the retirement of the latter after over 40 years of service. Wickremeratne, who joined Hayleys in 1971 and was appointed to the Board […]
Dormant Money
May 25, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is looking at the possibility of taking over the dormant accounts and property deposited in commercial and specialised banks which have remained unclaimed over a long period of time, banking sources said. The Central Bank is already collecting data on all bank accounts and properties which have not […]
Steady Progress
May 24, 2006 (LBO) – People’s Bank, Sri Lanka’s second-largest state bank in terms of assets, said group net profits for the three-months to March 31 rose 22.1 percent to 926.23 million rupees. The technically insolvent bank said Wednesday that its net profits were up 14.3 percent to 774.19 million rupees during the period under […]
Step Pyramid
May 24, 2006 (LBO) – Authorities in Sri Lanka are stepping up a campaign against pyramid schemes, after learning that promoters were targeting school leavers and unemployed youth in rural districts. The Central Bank has already started to publish a series of advertisements in the vernacular Sinhalese language newspapers. Officials say the campaign will be […]
Cricket fever taking root across Asia
KARACHI, May 24, 2006 (AFP) – Just a few years ago it was hard to imagine cricket taking root in conservative societies like China and Afghanistan.But the passion shown in countries like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka has spread like an epidemic, prompting the caretakers of the sport in the region to fast track its […]
Oxfam cries foul over sportswear sweatshops ahead of World Cup
SYDNEY, May 24, 2006 (AFP) – Sportswear manufacturers received a red card from international charity Oxfam Wednesday for failing to stamp out sweatshops in Asia ahead of next month’s football World Cup.Oxfam said while sportswear companies paid millions in sponsorship to the footballers who will star at the tournament in Germany, the workers manufacturing their […]
Dire Straits
May 23, 2006 (LBO) – Cash strapped retail fuel supplier Lanka IOC has put a break on future imports, citing an unpaid 7.44 billion rupee subsidy payment at the centre of a dispute with the government. A unit of the Fortune 500 Indian Oil Corp., Lanka IOC says they have sufficient stocks to cover 43 […]
SriLankan Airlines flies to Goa, expands further into India
May 23 (LBO) – SriLankan Airlines will expand services into India, flying to Goa from October this year, with plans to also up frequencies to existing destinations. SriLankan continues to explore further opportunities by increasing our services to India, and we are currently considering launching services to more cities, as well as increasing the frequency […]
Tech Glitch
May 23 (LBO) – Local commercial banks with a backlog of un-cleared cheques say the operational glitch will be sorted out by the end of this week. LankaClear, the country’s cheque clearing house jointly owned by the Central Bank and licensed commercial banks, rolled out its new cheque imaging and truncation system earlier this month. […]
High Speed
May 22, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Monday offered mobile operators the chance to set up a next generation or third generation mobile phone network, with aim of offering high speed wireless services, the telecom watchdog said. Mobitel, a unit of Sri Lanka Telecom, is expected to start test runs on 3G as early as […]