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Sri Lanka’s transhipment engine is fundamentally fuelled by Indian cargo, yet an asymmetrical regulatory wall restricts Indian logistics companies from fully participating in the island’s domestic market. While Colombo Port thrives as a primary maritime gateway for the Indian subcontinent, a protectionist legacy in Sri Lanka’s shipping and logistics sector creates a striking policy anomaly. Sri Lankan firms enjoy the freedom of 100% equity ownership in India’s logistics sector, but India and all other foreign nations face a strict 40% foreign equity cap for freight forwarding and shipping agencies in Sri Lanka.

This imbalance presents a structural bottleneck for an island striving to evolve from a basic transhipment stop into a comprehensive regional logistics hub. Without Indian manufacturing and consumer demand, Sri Lanka’s multi-billion-dollar port infrastructure would operate at a fraction of their capacity. Sri Lanka secures immense port revenues and economic stability because of the Indian economic output yet controls the cargo with protection for few operators discouraging investments.

Discussing the subject openly itself is not encouraged and is stopped or targeted by the oligopoly lobby of the Sri Lankan shipping and logistics industry. The Government of Sri Lanka has continuingly been misled by a few personnel who have direct access to the president’s office under any government for decades and stops legal reforms and modernisation.

The transhipment dependency and support for export growth

Sri Lanka’s maritime success is inextricably linked to its northern neighbour. The country sits strategically along the crucial East-West shipping lane, positioning it perfectly to handle the overflow and consolidation of South Asian trade. The Indian share: Approximately 70% to 75% of Colombo Port’s total transhipment volume consists of cargo originating from or destined for India. However, the location has served less over the years and due to lack of scalable choice Sri Lankan exporters and logistics companies are losing competitiveness rapidly under few oligopolistic agency houses controlling logistics technical making it more expensive for cargo movements as its strives competition

The ownership anomaly

Despite this heavy reliance on Indian trade to sustain its maritime and logistics ecosystem, Sri Lanka enforces a strict, protectionist regulatory framework. Under long-standing domestic laws, foreign ownership in shipping agencies and freight forwarding companies is restricted to a maximum of 40%, requiring a 60% local majority partner.

The paradox sharpens when looking across the Palk Strait. Under India’s liberalized foreign direct investment (FDI) guidelines, Sri Lankan companies can hold 100% equity ownership in Indian shipping, logistics, warehousing, and freight operations under the automatic route. Sri Lankan logistics giants have actively utilized this open-door policy, successfully scaling up vast networks within mainland India.

For Indian operators, however, setting up an end-to-end network in Sri Lanka remains legally impossible without diluting their equity and surrendering corporate control to local partners who rely on Indian cargo to run their business.

The risk of holding back liberalisation

Maintaining this regulatory asymmetry poses a severe long-term risk to Sri Lanka’s maritime and logistics dominance. While local oligo lobbyists push for the 40% cap since the 1970’s closed economic model the world has moved on, and all global hubs now have an open-door policy in the sector attracting billions of dollars as FDI. The Sri Lankan protection simultaneously deters global players from making deep capital commitments in value-added logistics infrastructure into Sri Lanka keeping it locked in as a regional transhipment port and affects its export competitiveness directly.

Furthermore, Colombo policy makers must remember, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been very strategic since he took office in 2015 with a maritime and logistics strategy which is aggressively developing its own maritime and logistics infrastructure with fast reforms. The expansion of direct mainliner services to Indian ports, reforms in cabotage laws, and the construction of deep-water transhipment ports and new logistics centres within India. This means that dependence on Colombo is no longer a permanent necessity for Indian cargo and no Indian company will promote Sri Lanka as a logistics centre with a cap on freight forwarding and shipping.

If Sri Lanka wishes to anchor Indian cargo to its shores permanently, it must move beyond simply acting as a transhipment pitstop. Reciprocal liberalization allowing Indian and international players the corporate security of full ownership. This is the missing link required to transform Sri Lanka into a truly competitive, world-class Indian Ocean logistics hub. Not its location.

The Indian cargo operators in Colombo request the Indian Government’s attention and request its High Commissioner Santosh Jha to take up the serious anomaly in policy with the Government of Sri Lanka.

British Airways on Saturday marked a significant milestone with the arrival of its first flight into Colombo, reconnecting Sri Lanka with the UK for the first time in over 11 years.

The inaugural flight, operated by Sri Lankan crew, was welcomed by traditional dancers and drummers on arrival to commemorate the occasion. The new route strengthens links between the two countries, supporting tourism, trade, and business travel.

The thrice-weekly service will be operated by British Airways’ Boeing 777 fleet, featuring Club World (business class), World Traveller Plus (premium economy), and World Traveller (economy) cabins.

To celebrate the launch, British Airways is offering special return fares with savings of up to 10% in World Traveller, starting from Rs. 255,000 for travel from Colombo to London Gatwick.

British Airways Chief Planning and Strategy Officer Neil Chernoff in a statement said the resumption marks a special moment for British Airways, as it meant bringing Sri Lanka back to its global network and giving customers greater choice when planning their next getaway.

‘Sri Lanka is renowned for its warmth, rich culture, and hospitality, and we’re delighted to be flying there once again. To celebrate, we’re offering special fares and look forward to welcoming customers on board,’ he added.

Noting that Sri Lanka is one of the first re-entries in recent months, British Airways General Manager – South Asia David Wright during a media interaction post-first flight on Saturday stressed that Sri Lanka has always been a really important market for British Airways.

‘Between the UK and Sri Lanka, we have deep cultural and historic links, and so it is a market that we continue to keep an eye on. And obviously, over the last few years, we have seen that economic growth and tourism rebound post-COVID, and we continue to review our network, and we felt that the time was right to reintroduce our services from this winter,’ he told journalists in Colombo.

Wright said that a heart of a business case like this is very much tourism from the UK coming into the incredible island of Sri Lanka and everything it has to offer. ‘But we have also seen really positive demand across sectors: tourism going into the UK, but also across business sectors and also people visiting communities and friends and family as well.’

He described the all-inclusive offers starting from Rs. 255,000 as ‘compelling.’ The Boeing 777 has a capacity of over 300 seats and Wright noted that British Airways has been really pleased with the response. The special fares in World Traveller (economy) on return flights from Colombo to Gatwick, available for booking until 15 November 2026, for outbound travel between 20 October and 30 November 2026 and inbound travel between 26 October and 10 December 2026.

British Airways General Sales Agents (GSA) Hayleys Advantis Ltd., Managing Director Ruwan Waidyaratne said: ‘The commencement of British Airways’ flight operations to Colombo marks a significant milestone in enhancing air connectivity between Sri Lanka and the UK. The service will offer customers greater travel options while supporting tourism and business travel between the two markets, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with British Airways.’

He said Hayleys’ relationship with British Airways dates back to 1995, and it is delighted to welcome the airline back to Sri Lanka as this longstanding partnership enters a new chapter.

Waidyaratne stressed that improved connectivity between Sri Lanka and the UK creates opportunities that extends beyond travel, supporting tourism, stimulating economic activities, and strengthening ties between the two countries.

‘We look forward to seeing this connection grow and deliver lasting value for travellers, the tourism industry, and Sri Lanka as a whole,’ he added.

Senior First Officer Pradeeb Vimalraj, who operated the airline’s inaugural flight in a statement said: ‘As a Sri Lankan, born and raised in Jaffna in my early years, bringing our first flight back home after more than a decade was particularly special. The warm welcome we received made it even more memorable, and I am so proud to be part of this new chapter connecting Sri Lanka and the UK.’

British Airways also revealed that searches on ba.com for flights from London to Colombo have increased by more than 10% in the past week, reflecting continued interest in the destination.

British Airways operates one of the largest and the most modern fleets of any airline in the world and is transforming the operations with a £ 7 billion investment plan.

Departure from Gatwick is at 1640 hours on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and arrival in Colombo at 0935 hours the next day. Departure from Colombo is 1035 hours Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays with arrival at Gatwick at 1700 hours.

British Airways said the new service gives customers travelling from the UK direct access to one of South Asia’s most captivating destinations. From golden beaches and ancient cultural sites to wildlife reserves, tea country and a thriving food scene, Sri Lanka offers a diverse range of experiences for travellers to discover.

The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Ankara, concurrently accredited to Georgia, in collaboration with the Honorary Consuls of Sri Lanka in Tbilisi and Batumi, successfully organised the first-ever Sri Lanka-Georgia Business Forum in Tbilisi, on 16 October 2026.

The Forum acted as a valuable platform to introduce Sri Lanka’s growing trade and investment potential to the Georgian business community and to encourage greater participation in Sri Lanka EXPO 2027 (SLEXPO 2027), Sri Lanka’s flagship trade and investment exhibition.

The opening session featured remarks by the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Georgia, resident in Ankara, Niluka Kadurugamuwa, Honorary Consul of Sri Lanka in Tbilisi Nino Makhviladze, and Honorary Consul of Sri Lanka in Batumi Misha Dzadzamia. The speakers highlighted Sri Lanka’s potential as an emerging market and a promising investment destination, while underscoring the importance of strengthening business-to-business connections and expanding economic cooperation between Sri Lanka and Georgia.

At the Forum, First Secretary (Commercial) of the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Ankara, Dilanga Hettiarachchi made a comprehensive presentation on Sri Lanka’s trade and investment opportunities. He also introduced SLEXPO 2027, highlighting the opportunities available for Georgian buyers, investors and business representatives to establish new partnerships, explore business prospects and strengthen commercial ties with Sri Lankan counterparts.

The Forum brought together business representatives, traders, buyers and investors, facilitating networking, exchange of information and discussions on potential areas for enhanced bilateral trade and investment cooperation.

The event received a wide media coverage in Georgia, including through its national television. Speaking to the media, the Ambassador invited the Georgian business community to explore Sri Lanka as a promising destination for trade, investment, and business partnerships, highlighting the opportunities available to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries.

The national QR payment adoption program is set to soon launch its ‘Lucky Draw,’ with the first draws scheduled for 27 October 2026.

This registration-free nationwide draw aims to encourage and reward the everyday use of LankaQR payments by both customers and merchants.

All transactions made between 1 September 2026 – 28 February 2027 will be eligible, and every customer or merchant who has used LankaQR since 1 September 2026 is automatically considered, providing a hassle-free experience.

Participants have the chance to win two types of cash prizes; a weekly draw prize of Rs. 5,000 (250 winners weekly) and a monthly grand draw prizes of Rs. 1,000,000 (two winners), Rs. 500,000 (two winners) and Rs. 250,000 (two winners).

Weekly draws select 250 winners (125 merchants and 125 customers), whereas the monthly grand draws select six winners (three customers and three merchants). The total prize pool across the six months is estimated at Rs. 51,000,000.

Each eligible LankaQR transaction (person to merchant transactions and person to person transactions are both eligible) enters both parties to both of these draws. All prizes will be credited directly to the winner’s bank account.

For a given month, all four weekly draws and the monthly draw will be held in the following month. On 27 October, four weekly draws and one monthly grand draw will be conducted covering September.

The draw is based on transaction data received from participating banks, and run by LankaPay and supported by GovTech. For transparency, a designated Draw Committee oversees every draw, comprising at least one representative from the Ministry of Digital Economy, the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and the Auditor General’s Department.

To maintain transparency, winners will be announced within two weeks via each bank, and the prizepool distribution via the Ministry of Digital Economy and GovTech.

The 2026 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group that completed in Bangkok, Thailand from 12 to 18 October, brought together over 15,000 participants from 191 member countries including policymakers, central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, civil society representatives, journalists, and academics to discuss the state of the global economy and issues of international concern, such as the growth outlook, financial stability, rising inequality and poverty reduction.

The Thai hosts welcomed participants with remarkable hospitality and efficiency despite the conditions under which dissent was permitted. Hundreds of local demonstrators marched near the National Convention Centre, protesting land rights impacts, carbon pricing models, and policies perceived to u foreign capital over local livelihoods. Some made a strong case for a more fundamental reckoning: ‘Why Thailand Should Be Suing, Not Hosting the IMF.’ The question was not rhetorical. It pointed to the land displacements, the conditionalities, and the structural adjustment legacies that have shaped Thailand’s own experience with the Bretton Woods institutions, and to the uncomfortable irony of a nation hosting the very architects of policies it has spent decades contesting.

The local protests reflected the wishes of many participants who were keen to see meaningful reforms to the International Financial Institutions that would place the wellbeing of people and the environment over returns on wealth and capital.

The status quo

Whilst multiple global issues require urgent action, cooperation was lacking at the event and reflected the geopolitically fragmented world. As the US pushes back on climate financing, points fingers at the ‘distorted policies’ of other countries, and fights a war of choice, it produces the energy crunch and negative consequences. IMF and the World Bank could and should have discussed the impact of these actions in a more insightful and meaningful manner.

There was little self-reflection by the multilateral institutions on the policies and strategies that have contributed to the debt and economic crises facing many nations. The Debt Report 2026 (Broad Global South) published by Erlassjahr, a German think-tank, identified 44 countries in the Global South suffering from a ‘very high foreign debt burden,’ with another 25 heavily burdened and 15 at latent risk.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) was the answer to almost every question on growth posed to the Bretton Woods institutions, even as they sidestepped the structural failures such as debt, austerity, and the chronic underfunding of public goods, that define the actual constraints on growth in the Global South. More than a dozen official panel discussions addressed AI, including one titled ‘What would it take? Making Private Capital and AI Work for Countries’. Another panel featured Jack Clark, co-founder of Anthropic, as keynote speaker. This came in the same week that the Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy published an essay titled ‘Apocalypse Now and Then’, on the dangers of AI driving inequality, in which she writes: ‘It feels a little like that moment before the tsunami in 2004. Remember how, in Thailand and Indonesia, the ocean drew back from the coastline? People ran out to marvel at the miles of pristine new beach that suddenly emerged, not realising that, far out at sea, a wall of water was building up and would come crashing over them. We’re in that moment now. A towering wall of stupidity is about to inundate us.’

Benefits for the few

Private capital took centre stage at the World Bank Group, which claimed $112 billion was mobilised during fiscal year 2026 while offering no evidence on the number or quality of jobs created.

Warnings of record debt were met with more fiscal consolidation, tight monetary stances for price stability, supply-side and structural reforms, and inflation targeting through central bank policies from the IMF rather than replenishing its Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust, Resilience and Sustainability Trust, and Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust to ramp up much-needed financing. It is disappointing that the international financial institutions have not been able to effectively replenish these specialised trust funds and financing vehicles managed by the IMF to support low-income and vulnerable economies.

Help for the many

Some global south governments, civil society, and think tanks, including Sri Lanka’s Institute of Political Economy, called for a different order of priorities, as many countries carry high debt-servicing obligations, poor public services, and lack access to adequate energy or water. They called for sufficient and predictable public finance to invest in health, education, energy, and food sovereignty. They raised the need for policy space to promote green industrial policies and to build the foundation for decent jobs for all.

The most important conversations happened outside the official meetings. From the Borrowers’ Platform to coordinate on debt and financial architecture, the Xingu Talks for aligning global finance flows, the Southern Caucus on sovereign industrialisation, the Feminist Festival of Resistance and Alternatives making a compelling case for a gender-just economy, and the International Peoples Assembly mobilising for economic, social, and climate justice, Global South governments and movements were building their own alternatives.

Their focus was policy sovereignty and a people-centred economy that values care and develops within planetary boundaries. These conversations reminded participants that alternatives are not only possible; they are already being imagined and built. There were calls for more grants and less debt, simple access, and faster disbursement.

The serious issues facing Sri Lanka’s economy and its people as a result of the unjust global economic order echo what is being raised across the Global South. There is an urgent need for the Government and civil society organisations to show solidarity by uniting and joining forces with other nations and activists to drive reforms within the international financial institutions, through active participation in the UNCTAD Borrowers’ Platform and the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, and by supporting the International Panel on Inequality, among other initiatives

Where are the alternatives?

Global debt and development campaigners such as Debt Justice UK, EuroDad, LatinDadd, Asia Peoples Movement for Debt and Development, AfroDad, Bretton Woods Project, MenaFem, IDEAs, Suramericana Vision, YukthiLk and numerous others, posed questions for finance policymakers.

How can governments deal with the costs of today whilst protecting their ability to invest in tomorrow, at a time of limited fiscal space, high debt costs, energy and commodity price shocks, and the need to continue investing in health, education, climate resilience, and energy transition? How can debt governance incorporate external fiscal risks that affect debt sustainability but exist outside public borrowing? How can a new global standard on tax expenditure reporting, a vital step towards freeing up fiscal space, be introduced? And how can countries finance adaptation without worsening debt distress, external vulnerabilities, and pressures on essential public services?

Local alternatives

The serious issues facing Sri Lanka’s economy and its people as a result of the unjust global economic order echo what is being raised across the Global South. There is an urgent need for the Government and civil society organisations to show solidarity by uniting and joining forces with other nations and activists to drive reforms within the international financial institutions, through active participation in the UNCTAD Borrowers’ Platform and the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, and by supporting the International Panel on Inequality, among other initiatives.

The institutions that govern the global economy are structurally rigged against the South. Unilateral resistance is punished; collective action is shielded. Unity also means building alternatives, not merely demanding seats at a table that was never designed for them but sharing the vast resources of technical expertise, policy solutions and collective experience available to drive essential changes to a world that rewards capital controlled by a few, over the work of the many.

BBDO Group Sri Lanka Associate Vice President and Client Servicing Director Wajinie Mahanama has been named among Campaign Asia-Pacific’s Women to Watch 2026, recognising her contribution to the advertising industry through sustained business growth, trusted client relationships and a leadership approach grounded in accountability and purpose.

Now in its 14th year, the regional recognition celebrates 25 women across 12 markets whose expertise, business performance and influence are shaping Asia Pacific’s marketing and communications landscape. Wajinie’s selection reflects a career spanning 15 years in advertising, during which she has led major client portfolios, driven business growth and championed work that creates meaningful social impact.

BBDO Group Sri Lanka, Executive Chairman Thayalan Bartlett said: ‘Wajinie’s recognition reflects the kind of leadership that builds lasting value for clients, businesses and the industry. Her ability to combine commercial discipline with a deep understanding of people and brands has made her a trusted leader within our organisation. She represents the strength of Sri Lankan talent on the regional stage, and we look forward to seeing her continue to do big things.’

Throughout her career, Wajinie has built enduring client partnerships while leading brands across diverse sectors. Her portfolio includes campaigns and initiatives that extend beyond commercial objectives, including work supporting social awareness and behavioural change through brands such as Eva Sanitary Napkins and Atlas Sipsavi Scholarship program. Her leadership also places importance on mentoring colleagues, supporting young talent and creating an inclusive workplace.

‘Being named among Campaign Asia-Pacific’s Women to Watch is a meaningful milestone in a journey shaped by continuous learning, resilience and the people who have challenged and supported me. I believe lasting leadership comes from staying curious, honouring commitments and remaining willing to evolve. This recognition encourages me to keep contributing to the industry, supporting others and creating work that makes a difference,’ said BBDO Group Sri Lanka Associate Vice President, and Client Servicing Director Wajinie Mahanama.

Wajinie’s regional recognition is complemented by her selection in the ‘Outstanding Leadership in Advertising’ category at the Women Icon Awards powered by Times Women, India, where she was the only recipient from Sri Lanka in the category. Together, these recognitions highlight her contribution to an industry where effective leadership increasingly calls for commercial strength, adaptability and a commitment to people and purpose.

Royal College will be hosted by Trinity College in a much-anticipated football encounter for the J.R. Jayewardene Challenge Trophy today (26) at the Trinity College Rugby Stadium in Pallekele.

The contest will feature matches across all age categories, bringing together young footballers from the two leading schools in a day of competitive action, school pride, and sportsmanship.

The opening matches across the various age groups are scheduled to commence at 9:30 a.m., while the much-awaited Under-20 encounter will kick off at 2 p.m.

Ten years ago, I worked as the Chief Commercial Officer of a mid-size software company developing solutions for the BFSI sector. The word fintech was not so popular back then. RPA or Robotic Process Automation software was introduced in Sri Lanka during this time, and we opted to be a distributor for one of the three pioneering brands entered the market namely Blue Prism, UI Path and Automation Anywhere. RPA was ideal to automate processes of banks, insurance firms, and state authorities such as passport and border control handling large volumes of repetitive and rule-based tasks. Fast forward, we now have AI enabled RPA which is an evolutionary leap beyond RPA and popularly known as Agentic AI that is going to make a big revolution in every industry across the world. This article aims to explain benefits, challenges and strategic directions for managers and business firms who will adopt Agentic AI in automating their workflows.

The profound use of AI

AI has now become an everyday tool for most of the digitally literate individuals and tech savvy firms. Students, researchers, and employees of business firms use AI in their work with varying degrees of consent, competence and confusion. Many business firms allow employees to use AI as it can substantially improve productivity. Hours of coding work done by software engineers now happen in minutes. Teachers caution poor analytical skills and creativity among children due to heavy reliance on AI. Discussions between service providers and customers such as doctors and patients are becoming short and precise. Similarly, people are afraid of losing jobs as AI has become explosive filled with promises and fears.

Convergence of automation and AI

RPAs were good in doing tasks but lacked thinking capability. AI particularly the LLMs or Large Language Models provide the ability to understand, logical reasoning, and plan. In other words, AI provides the brain. RPAs provide the ability to execute functions such as clicking a button, copying and pasting etc. The convergence of RPA and AI has given us real digital workers known as AI agents who can work like human employees. Agentic AI which comprises of multiple agents, can interact with different applications, manipulate data, manage and control hardware and execute tasks to achieve specific goals. Some argue that humans will work for machines in future. Humans losing control on fully autonomous systems can bring unprecedented threats to the world. Think of an era where power generation, irrigation management, air traffic control, border control etc. happen with no human intervention. Given these capabilities of Agentic AI, you may now think of the fate of BPO and KPO operations, service-oriented organisations and the back-office functions of top brands outsourced from developing countries.

Five levels of automation

The popular 2025 book by Pascal Bornet and his team on Agentic AI highlights its progress with five levels of automation. Level 1 describes rule-based automation, and this is what we had as RPA. Level 2 refers to intelligent automation. Levels 3 to 5 describe agentic workflows, semi-autonomous and fully autonomous agentic systems respectively. They emphasise the importance of starting automation at a low level in your organisation as it will enable you to be familiar with it, have control and governance mechanisms in place. This also shows the low control managers will have at higher levels of agentic automation and less instructions humans need to give. The Cybercab by Tesla that has no steering wheel, pedals and mirrors is probably the latest and popular example for an autonomous agentic system.

Innovations in the era of Agentic AI

Unlike inventions, innovations need not to be grand discoveries and brand new to the world. If there is any sensible change, we make to a product or a process that can add value to stakeholders we can explain it as an innovation. It is stunning to see what Agentic AI can do in the wide array of innovation types and processes popularly in use such as incremental, radical, architectural, modular, disruptive, reverse, frugal, outcome driven and open innovation. As Agentic AI learns and improves what it does in each task, what we can expect is a dramatic push in all types of innovations. It is true that creativity is central to invent and innovate and we often tend to question the ability of machines to think creatively. Despite the algorithms and lines of codes or instructions they follow, machines are now capable of thinking. This flexibility in controls may lead to continuous incremental innovations in products and processes. We as human beings can have some protection until AI powered machines explore the exciting and uncertain world of disruptive innovations. Some already highlight the enormous threats the world may face with super intelligence.

Dynamic capability embedded to DNA

David Teece coined the term dynamic capability to remind organisations of the need to upgrade and update their capabilities in response to changes in the business environment. His latest articles and videos published in 2025 reemphasise the need of reconfiguring the capabilities of an organisation to remain competitive. Managers of all levels of a business firm, especially at the middle level, have this challenge of managing dynamic capabilities to ensure the organisation has an edge over competition and to accelerate innovations. Agentic AI being a practice that necessarily relies on learning from mistakes and constant learning for improvements, the future firms that are empowered with Agentic AI will have dynamic capabilities embedded to its DNA. This is no different to how culture is infused into the blood of an organisation.

Organisational inertia to fade away

People and organisations generally resist change. The preference to maintain the current equilibrium in the organisation known as the status-quo and rigid processes and procedures lead to organisational inertia that prevents change or makes it challenging. System integration is identified as the most challenging area business firms face when introducing AI Agents. Significant resistance may come from the technical people as the remedial measure involves ‘API first’ architecture. However, with more AI agents in use by business firms, managers may expect low inertia in future. One can argue that the level 3 Agentic workflows which is right now the most seen level of agentic automation will certainly result in low resistance to change.

Sustainability

AI and Agentic AI require large amounts of resources. As highlighted in the AI Index Report 2026 by Stanford University, this is an industry which is scaling faster than surrounding systems around can adopt. Research and practices that aim to optimise resource utilisation include and are not limited to edge computing, fog computing, AI accelerators etc. Bio-inspired swarm intelligence and socially inspired intelligence are also popular areas for research. Increasing energy and water footprints, especially at data centers have become a major concern for governments and other interest groups. Given the speed of growth of AI, it is becoming important to monitor and regulate its purpose of use, the scope and cost before it is too late and irreversible.

Need for policy imperatives

We often see in local media multiple initiatives by state authorities and think tanks on the way forward to a digital economy. Given that as a key goal in the national agenda, artificial intelligence particularly Agentic AI should necessarily be a focus area by policy makers and managers. Attempting to be competitive in regional or global markets without leveraging on agentic AI as a value driver will certainly be a costly lesson for everyone.

Once again, we prove that we are quite slow in technology adoption as a nation in this massive transformation as well. We are behind many other nations, as highlighted in the AI diffusion report 2025 by Microsoft AI Economy Institute. State authorities, universities and business firms have a major role to play in increasing AI adoption for productive purposes.

Ethical perspectives in Agentic AI

Top managers will face extremely challenging situations in adopting Agentic AI. The popular utilitarian way of deciding by looking at the consequences of a decision where pleasure for majority and pain for minority is the accepted norm cannot be easily applied here. One might argue that Agentic AI can enhance productivity and the broader society will benefit. Yet, at what cost is the question one needs to answer by looking at multiple stakeholders. A regular question I asked in my MBA classes for many years is who will need driverless cars and at what cost. Agentic AI systems are no different. Cost here is not only the cost of ownership and operations but also the social cost, impact on the environment, use of depleting resources and hidden losses in upstream and downstream activities. Surely, the excitement of a new technology cannot be at the cost of losing your job, water to drink and electricity for daily use. Hypercompetition may prompt business firms to resort to Agentic AI to get ahead. Managers need to think carefully about the quality of the decisions they make and the consequences, especially in the long run.