Top Lankan CEOs bullish post Indo-Lanka meet

In the upbeat atmosphere of the post-high level Indian trade push on Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan business community and CEOs are now upbeat on the dawning new biz prospects.

Fresh initiatives by the high-level Indian business delegation to Sri Lanka led by Indian Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles Anand Sharma saw announcements of bilateral trade doubling to $ 10 b by 2015, $ 5 b Indian investments in various sectors being lined up, two new export zones coming up to act as India’s supply chains ($ 5 b investments are apart from huge outlay for the two new zones), India directly involving in Sri Lanka’s five-hub strategy in a big way, and increased Indian involvement in Lanka’s ongoing oil and gas search.

Among the Lankan biz leaders ready to embrace the new developments is W.K.H. Wegapitiya, Chairman of LAUGFS Holdings Ltd. The $ 113 m diversified Sri Lankan firm LAUGFS Holdings “is now looking forward for several JVs with Indian firms – and also wants to start in the upcoming Manufacturing Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) by India,” he said.

Describing his new plans, Wegapitiya said: “Actually we discussed broadly about automotive and hospitality. I am looking to go for JV with Indian firms on education, power and energy and hotels and tourism sectors. Also, LAUGFS Holdings is already involved in manufacturing rubber products for automotives. Therefore we are looking to enter the Manufacturing Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) by India which will be located close to Trincomalee, although we have not decided on the initial investment value at this moment.”

Stating his satisfaction on Indian initiatives and touching on the next steps, Wegapitiya said: “This is a very good initiative for which we have been waiting for some time. The perception of Sri Lanka the neighbours had about us was negative in the past 30 years but with major initiatives such as these, we are seeing a difference.  We all agreed that the initiatives and the forum were highly successful. Our Indian counterparts are very keen to enter Sri Lanka trade and investments. For the first time, the bilateral dialogues between the two countries that have been previously done mostly through political circles and bureaucrats have been taken up by the private sector of both countries. We had the opportunity to be in the front seats in the forum, face to face directly with globally renowned Indian entrepreneurs and magnates for the first time. We, the Lankan biz leaders, also agreed that we will lead the process forward in future prior to our political circles and officials starting on them and then move to create the conducive business environment for corporate and business communities of both countries.”

Ashroff Omar, CEO of Brandix Lanka Ltd., voiced strong excitement: “The forum was the joint-brainchild of President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa and Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh at a their meeting in Delhi. It took a little time to start but we are now extremely impressed by the way it was conducted. The co-chairs (Bharti Mittal and Kulathunga Rajapaksa) were representative of the highest level of businesses on both sides. We believe that this will be a process that will take up time to build up momentum, but it will be a powerful grouping in the end. The new business opportunities will be phenomenal due to the unrealised and untapped potential due to our 30 years of war here. I think now there will be a robust bilateral business growth especially due to Sri Lankan businesses’ direct networking with their Indian counterparts.”

Commenting on expansion plans in India, he said: “There are no further plans at this moment but in the future. As an investor in India, for me, this platform solves our urgent issues such as visas and human resources and as a working platform and a very good mechanism to ease the day-to-day operational pains of Sri Lankan investors in India. We must also be thankful to both High Commissions for their efforts in this event.” Asoka Hettigoda, Managing Director of Hettigoda Group – the Lankan conglomerate spanning fertiliser, plantations, distribution and natural products and which produces the well-known Siddhalepa Ayurvedic preparations – said: “We are quite keen to develop Lankan pharma industry and looking to partner in the proposed pharmaceutical manufacturing hub by India and also want to partner in manufacturing and distribution as well as the tourism sector with Indian firms.  We are in the natural products such as Ayurvedic preparations but we have the knowhow to get involved in even Western medicinal preparations. As for tourism, we want to elevate our Wadduwa Ayurvedic centre and we also welcome Indian JVs in this.”

Over the past 25 years, brand Siddhalepa has turned into a global brand, being present over 25 countries, competing in the global natural products market valued at US$ 65 billion annually. Hettigoda Industries is the first Ayurvedic drug-manufacturing company in Asia to have received the International Standards Quality Systems certificate for its preparations (ISO 9002 certification in 1994 and ISO 9001 in October 2000).

In Sri Lanka, the brand has invested more than $ 2.2 m (Rs. 300 million) over the past years to market Siddhalepa and in Germany, it has invested over $ 1.2 m to launch its natural spas and promote its brand image. The Hettigoda Group spas also operate in Germany and Czechoslovakia.

After a successful three-day tour in Colombo, the delegation returned to India on the morning of 6 August.

“I am highly pleased about the outcome of the visit of the Indian delegation led by Indian Minister Anand Sharma and his corporate leaders, whose high standard of professionalism and business zeal was very evident throughout their presence. At the Indo-Lanka CEO Forum and later, various members of Lankan business leader community have expressed their strong satisfaction to me and are eagerly looking for joint ventures with Indian firms, to be located in Sri Lanka,” said Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka on Tuesday 7 August.

“I commend the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the High Commission of India in Colombo for this successful initiative.”

Minister Bathiudeen was speaking against the backdrop of receiving many compliments and expressions of interest from a wide spectrum of Lankan business leaders who were in attendance at the forum.

The Indian magnates present voiced ‘high satisfaction’ over the outcomes. Bharti Mittal, the Co-chair of the Forum and India’s fifth largest dollar billionaire of Airtel fame, said: “This is one of the extremely well-structured symposia I have ever been to and it was a very successful event. I am highly pleased with the outcome. There is no doubt that we opened a new chapter in our bilateral business (history) because of this platform.”