Category: Daily Financial Times

Sri Lanka concluded the 12th World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi with two Bronze medals, thanks to impressive performances by Pradeep Somasiri and Nuwan Indika Gamage. The championship, held from 27 September to 5 October, featured the world’s best para-athletes, and Sri Lanka proudly finished 62nd in the overall medal tally.

The five-member Sri Lankan contingent was sponsored by Dialog Axiata PLC, a long-term partner of para sports in the country. For more than two decades, Dialog has stood firmly behind para athletes, helping them reach national and international stages.

The first medal for Sri Lanka at this year’s competition came through Nuwan Indika Gamage, who leapt to Bronze in the Men’s T44 long jump. He leaped 6.46m to clinch Bronze. Gamage also impressed in the Men’s 200m (T44) heat, recording his seasonal best of 24.65 seconds, though he narrowly missed a place in the final.

Pradeep Somasiri produced a sensational run in the Men’s 1500m (T46), clocking 3:53.77 minutes to win Bronze while setting a new Asian record. His feat underscored his consistency at the international level, having previously won gold in the same event at the Asian Para Games three years ago.

The race was one of the closest of the championship, with gold going to Independent para-athlete Aleksander Laremchuk (3:53.26) and silver to France’s Antoine Proud (3:53.62).

Sri Lanka’s only female competitor, Janani Dhananjana, delivered a personal best performance in the Women’s T47 long jump, clearing 5.36m to finish seventh.

In the Men’s Shot Put F63 Final, Palitha Bandara narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing 4th with a throw of 14.07m (SB). Buddhika Heshan recorded a personal best of 6.70m in the Long Jump, also finishing 7th.

In addition to its support for Para Athletes, Dialog is also a dedicated sponsor of Sri Lanka’s national cricket, volleyball, and esports teams, as well as the primary sponsor of the Sri Lanka Golf Open. The company promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion through sponsorships with the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka, enabling athletes to compete in national and international tournaments. Furthering its commitment to empowering future champions, Dialog continues to support the President’s Gold Cup Volleyball, national junior and senior netball tournaments, and Dialog Schools rugby.

One thing that has been in favour of Sri Lanka is that they had to play the three toughest sides in the ongoing ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup to begin with.

They have got over that hurdle with two losses – to India and England – and a no-result against Australia, but for them to turn those defeats into victories in the remaining four matches, Sri Lanka have some inadequacies which they need to overcome pretty fast.

What we saw in Sri Lanka’s defeats against India and England is that they dropped catches at vital stages of the game that had a great bearing on the final result. Against India, four catches were put down that helped India recover from 124-6 and post a challenging score of 269. On Saturday, against England, when their Captain Nat Sciver-Brunt was on 3, Udeshika Prabodhani dropped a catch straight to her at midwicket off Inoka Ranaweera. What a costly miss it turned out to be, for Sciver-Brunt went onto score a run-a-ball century (117) and take England past the 250-run mark – a figure they didn’t seem capable of achieving at one stage when they were 168-6 after 35 overs. These crucial lapses on the field have had a telling effect on the Lankan side.

Two other areas they need to improve are bowling and batting.

In bowling, the bowlers need to constantly bowl wicket to wicket. Anything outside it, the batters take the chance to score runs knowing very well that they will not become victims to an lbw. This has been a common feature even with the men’s team. It is simply baffling that a bowler cannot consistently bowl six balls wicket to wicket. Look at the discipline of the other top sides – how well they bowl their overs wicket to wicket and make the batter take all the risks if they want to score.

In batting, Sri Lanka cannot win matches by their key batters scoring 30s and 40s. They need to convert them into fifties and hundreds if they are to compete with the rest of the teams. Sri Lanka’s highest individual score so far is 43 by Chamari Athapaththu against India in the opening game.

Although the team management keeps on insisting that there has been a change to their batting, as other players have taken on the responsibility of winning matches with their own bat, the fact still remains that unless the Sri Lankan skipper uses her vast experience and comes up with a big contribution, her team will not achieve the results they are looking for. She has to lead the way for others to follow. The fact is that the rest of the Sri Lankan batters will bat around Athapaththu if she scores, not otherwise.

Although players like Harshitha Samarawickrama and Vishmi Gunaratne have scored hundreds in WODIs apart from Athapaththu, they still don’t have that depth of experience to play on a world stage and score the runs. The hundreds Harshitha and Vishmi scored were against Ireland in a bilateral series.

At the beginning of the World Cup, Sri Lanka had been rather excited about the prospect of reaching the last four of the competition, as they are playing the majority of their matches at home in familiar surroundings and pitches, but as England showed on Saturday, they too have in their arsenal (with bat and ball) to overcome slow and spin-oriented pitches of the subcontinent successfully. So, Sri Lanka will have their work cut out for them when they come up against the rest of the opposition in the tournament.

Hasini Perera, who top scored for Sri Lanka in their game against England with 35, admitted that they lost wickets due to poor shot selection and mistakes on the field.

‘After the England innings, we came out with a plan on how to chase down their total. Up to the 20th over, we were able to implement it, but from there onwards, we were unable to execute our plans properly,’ said Perera.

With Perera and Samarawickrama at the wickets, Sri Lanka progressed to 95-1 in 20 overs, only to see everything fall apart with the introduction of no. 1 ranked left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, who ripped off the middle order taking 4/17 off 10 overs. Charlie Dean and Sciver-Brunt also chipped in with two wickets apiece as Sri Lanka stumbled to 164-all out.

Union Assurance has set a new industry benchmark by becoming the first to fully digitise the Advisor Life Cycle Management process.

This ground-breaking initiative transforms every aspect of adviser operations from onboarding and self-servicing into a seamless digital experience reinforcing Union Assurance’s leadership in innovation within the insurance sector.

The shift from manual to digital processes has unlocked substantial benefits for both internal and external stakeholders. With automation, the adviser onboarding process has been significantly accelerated, representing a major improvement in operational turnaround times. This efficiency is further enhanced by the integration with the Sri Lanka Insurance Institute’s digital examinations platform, which is an industry first initiative, allowing instant verification against prerequisite exam requirements. In addition, advisers have also been empowered with intuitive self-service capabilities, enabling them to complete service requests with just a few clicks. These advancements have led to increased productivity, improved data accuracy, and a significantly enhanced adviser experience, while also delivering considerable cost savings to the organisation.

Union Assurance PLC Chief Agency Officer Imtiyaz Aniff said: ‘By digitising the entire Advisor Life Cycle Management process, we’ve not only improved efficiency but also empowered our teams with greater control and faster access to essential tools. This initiative reflects Union Assurance’s commitment to innovation, sustainability, and delivering exceptional value to all our stakeholders.’

Chief Information Officer Harsha Senanayake said: ‘This marks a transformative moment in how we manage and support our advisor network. By integrating technology into every stage of the advisor life cycle, we’ve built a scalable, efficient, and future-ready platform. It’s a testament to our ongoing commitment to operational excellence and delivering value across the board.’

Since 1980s when Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) entered the country’s political arena Muslim politics and Muslim culture began to develop a symbiotic relationship to strengthen the community’s identity politics. The fact that identity politics was the norm and not the exception at that time may be the justification for such an amalgam. Yet, even at that time the pre-SLMC Muslim leaders had the wisdom and foresight to avoid falling into that identity trap and were able to utilise their commercial tool of bargaining between the existing parties to get the best deal for their community. It was politics of pragmatism as came to be known later.

What made this bargaining possible was the ubiquitous presence of Muslim voters in several parliamentary constituencies across the country. Also, the growing discontent between the Sinhalese and Tamil politicians from 1950s further strengthened the hands of Muslim leaders. As a result, special privileges were granted to the Muslim community as part of affirmative action. For example, the origins and growth of Muslim primary schools, Muslim Maha Vidyalayas, and Muslim training colleges is an outstanding testimony for the success of pragmatic politics.

What is even more significant and not well researched by scholars is the fact that Muslim politics did not disturb the millennium old historic and peaceful integration of this community into Sri Lanka’s multi-ethnic polity. Muslims in every aspect had become a community OF and not IN Sri Lanka. After the 1980s and with the growth of SLMC identity politics however, this healthy integration seems to have received a setback with the intrusion of cultural elements into Muslim politics.

Without going into the origins and ideological foundation of SLMC which had been dealt with in author’s earlier columns in this journal let the readers pose the question to SLMC leaders as to what their specific achievements were since that party came into existence. On the other hand, the Muslim cemetery at Majma Nagar in Oddamavadi bears witness to the monumental failure of SLMC leaders to prevent the cremation of corona-dead Muslims during Gotabaya’s presidency. Recently, someone had highlighted that the South-Eastern University in Oluvil is the achievement of SLMC during the time of its founder president Ashraf. True, but the groundwork for a university in that region began during the time of former Minister of Education Badiuddin Mahmud, and had his government been returned at the 1978 General Election today’s Eastern University would have been built somewhere in the Southeast.

Sowing the seeds of Islamisation in Muslim politics

Be that as it may, the entry of SLMC as the leading campaigner for ‘Muslim rights’, which have not been identified until now, had sown either intentionally or inadvertently the seeds of Islamisation in Muslim politics. The fertiliser for its growth came largely from abroad via Jayewardene’s post-1980s open door economic paradigm. While Islamisation was merely an exercise in real politique with a religious veneer to capture Muslim votes, it soon created a space for other Islamist elements like Zahran Hashim’s National Tawhid Jamaat (NTJ) to step into the political arena with more radical agendas.

While SLMC campaign platforms created a religious flavour with party stalwarts appearing with beards and white caps, and while their mullahs addressing the crowd with quotes from the Holy Quran and Prophet’s sayings amidst shouts of Allahu Akbar, NTJ went a step further and advanced radical measures not simply to enter the Parliament but to change Sri Lanka itself from ‘Dharul Qufr’ (Abode of Non-believers) to ‘Dharul Islam’ (Abode of Islam). The whole truth behind how this group eventually became a bunch of mercenaries at the hands of more sinister elements from outside the Muslim community and eventually perished in blood is yet to be revealed in full. But the point to note here is the danger of promoting identity politics with religious and cultural ingredients.

There is another disturbing development which is also an indirect consequence of SLMC’s identity politics. This is the growing trend towards Arabisation of Muslim towns like Kattankudy. This enclave, which was described earlier by this columnist as a ‘Mullah Merchant Urban Settlement’, is now transforming into a Mullah Merchant Arab Complex. In fact, a recent Muslim tourist from Azerbaijan who visited Kattankudy did describe it as an Arab town in Sri Lanka. With around 50,000 population of whom nearly 90% are Muslims living cramped inside a land area of only 2.56 km2, with nearly 70 mosques crowned by a replica of the historic Al-Aqsa in Palestine and with street junctions and arches decorated with Arabic calligraphy, and on top of all these with a row of date palms in the middle of Kattankudy main street give this enclave a Middle Eastern flavour which is alien to Sri Lanka. Added to these elements is the ‘confronting’ attire (as one foreign prime minister described to this columnist) worn by Muslim men and women in the name of a so-called cultural dress. A brief note on this attire is relevant in this context.

Muslim attire is adding to self-alienation

None can deny one’s right to wear whatever dress one likes. It was on that argument few years ago a couple of Muslim lady teachers in Trincomalee won their case in the court for contravening the school’s tradition of lady teachers coming in sarees. But how that victory added to the deteriorating social cohesion between Tamils and Muslims in that district escaped the notice of everyone. The same is true at the national level. Muslim attire is adding to self-alienation of Muslims in multi-cultural societies.

Recently, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya announced that Muslim girls could attend any school wearing their cultural dress and pursue their education. While welcoming this announcement it is left to the Muslim community to decide which is the most appropriate dress for their school children which, while conforming to the cultural norms of the society should not be an impediment to those children to participate fully in all school activities including co-curricular and extra-curricular ones. Excellence in academic performance should not be the sole objective of education for a Muslim child attending school.

Islam in Sri Lanka as noted previously has a proud history as an integrated element of the nation’s cultural mosaic. Post-SLMC identity politics appears to be threatening this integrated edifice as evinced by the title of a book authored by a local academic and published in 2025 with the title ‘Muslims in Sri Lanka’ instead Muslims of Sri Lanka. That title seems to add substance to Dr. Colvin R. de Silva’s comparison of Muslim attachment to the country as that between a cow and the grass.

A post-Aragalaya irrelevance

The 2022 Aragalaya and its impact on the country’s political landscape marks a watershed in Sri Lanka’s post-independence history. The success of AKD at the Presidential Election and NPP at the General Election were, if anything, lasting testimonies for voters’ rejection of identity politics. And no critic with a catalogue of pre-election promises, and post-election failures of the new president and Government could accuse them of communal or religious bias. In short, identity politics is a post-Aragalaya irrelevance. Yet, reactionary elements are regrouping to reinstate the ancient regime as soon as possible, because there are too many skeletons in the cupboard that are threatening to reopen hidden secrets about the felonious past of some previous leaders. Imtiaz Bakir Makar’s VAT ghost is the latest revelation demanding investigation. No wonder SLMC and its breakaway ACMC are back in the field to bargain with other reactionaries more for personal than community benefits. Will the community wake up?

Targeting hidden wealth, the new amendments to the Companies Act demands full disclosure of beneficial ownership, but secrecy and complex offshore structures will make enforcement difficult, said a panel of industry experts and stakeholders recently.

This discussion took place at a seminar on the Companies (Amendment) Act No 12 of 2025. Organised by Corporate Management Consultants, the event brought together regulators, lawyers, and compliance officers to unpack the new law.

NSB Chairman Dr. Harsha Cabral was the keynote speaker, joined by SEC Former Chairman Dr. DC Jayasuriya and Financial Intelligence Unit Director Subhani Keerthiratne. A panel discussion also featured Registrar General of Companies Aravindi De Silva, CSE Former Chief Regulatory Officer Renuke Wijewardena, and Registrar of Companies Attorney-at-Law Shyama Harshani.

The new amendment was designed to end anonymous ownership and align Sri Lanka with global anti-money laundering standards. The law requires companies to register their beneficial owners, while banning bearer shares and imposing strict disclosure, reporting, and compliance obligations, explained Jayasuriya, while Keerthiratne highlighted the importance of these measures. Thereby, non-compliance carries fines and criminal liability, reflecting a push for greater transparency ahead of the FATF evaluation.

However, enforcement would be challenging due to hidden family wealth often known to only one person, Cabral said during his keynote address. ‘Beneficial ownership is something we always talk about. who the ultimate beneficiary is. Sometimes in families, when maybe only the husband knows of your family wealth… you can’t tell the wife or the children.’

The law requires companies to maintain detailed registers of beneficial ownership for ten years, even after liquidation, and notify the Registrar of any changes within 14 days. Ignorance or feigning ignorance is not an acceptable excuse for any director or secretary, Cabral added.

However, tracing ownership through multiple companies remained a challenge, he said. ‘If you say that you have to get, that company is in Hong Kong, then to see who are the owners of that company. Well, another company in the British Virgin Islands and another gentleman in Canada. So how much of it can be traceable? How much of it can be achieved is going to be a tough one.’

Companies are also required to provide details of beneficial owners to the public upon request, ensuring accountability, Cabral added.

Penalties for non-compliance are substantial and target not only directors and secretaries but also officers and shareholders. Cabral advised that large companies should appoint a dedicated compliance officer to ensure that all obligations are properly signed off.

Expanding on enforcement challenges, Wijewardena discussed the role of the Central Depositary System (CDS): ‘In a private environment, before the issuance of a share or transfer of share, it’s all done manually, but in a listed environment that is not so because you really don’t know whose life you share. Monday morning somebody will come and take over the company at 9:35, so you get to rely on information from the CDS.’

He said that while the CDS can facilitate information flow, the primary responsibility was with the company and its shareholders, and the companies would not be able to escape liability by blaming the CDS.

Wijewardena also warned about challenges with corporate and foreign investors. He explained that where it was easy to assume beneficial ownership with individuals, doing so with regards to corporations and funds was more complex. Foreign funds were extremely complex because the beneficiaries themselves were not aware of where the funds were invested.

‘Their funds are managed through a very complex structure. Global custodians, sub custodians, that’s the way that they have been operating. And we need to balance the compliance regulation with the economic factors also.’

Harshani said the Registrar’s Department was in the process of preparing the necessary regulations and formats, with technical assistance from the World Bank. She added that the system would also be digitalised, allowing filings to be done online. She also explained that electronic signatures would be recognised and accepted to simplify procedures for companies.

Despite welcoming a record number of visitors in September 2025, Sri Lanka’s tourism industry fell short of revenue expectations, reflecting persistent challenges in boosting tourist spending.

According to the latest data from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), September earnings rose marginally year-on-year (YoY) to $ 182.9 million, but fell sharply by 42% month-on-month, underscoring the gap between arrivals growth and actual economic returns.

The average daily spending per tourist remains around $ 171-lower than expected-and is a key factor preventing stronger revenue growth.

By comparison, September 2018 saw earnings of $ 279.8 million, highlighting that the industry still lags nearly $ 97 million behind pre-crisis highs.

Thus, the $ 400.66 million earned in January 2025 remains the highest monthly performance since 2020, buoyed by strong early-season demand.

During the first nine months, the tourism industry has generated over $ 2.47 billion, reflecting a 5% year-to-date (YTD) increase. However, the figure remains 31.2% below the 2018 benchmark of $ 3.25 billion for the same period, the year Sri Lanka recorded its highest-ever annual tourism revenue of $ 4.38 billion.

On average, during January-September 2025, around $ 274 million per month was generated from the tourism industry.

Despite the positive momentum, the sector faces an uphill battle to achieve its ambitious $ 5 billion year-end target and revised 2.6 million arrivals goal, following a mixed performance in the first nine months of the year. To reach that goal, the country will need to generate over $ 2.52 billion in the final quarter alone, a target analysts describe as ‘challenging but not impossible,’ given the current pace of demand.

To meet the $ 5 billion target, Sri Lanka must now average over $ 840 million in monthly earnings over the next three months, almost double the current average. It underscores the scale of the challenge as the country looks to reclaim its position among the region’s top-performing tourist destinations.

Prospects College of Higher Education (PCHE) announced a partnership with XpressJobs through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This collaboration aims to enhance career opportunities for PCHE students by directly integrating the latest job openings and internships into the university’s career portal.

With diploma and foundation programs already established, PCHE will be launching its first degree programs this year in Early Childhood Education, Psychology, Information Technology, and Business Management. Through this partnership, students across these disciplines will gain access to tailored job listings.

For XpressJobs, this partnership is particularly meaningful, as it marks the company’s first collaboration with a university offering specialised programs in Early Childhood Education, a field in which the platform regularly supports teacher and education-sector vacancies, including lecturers, counsellors, and academic professionals.

XpressJobs Co-Founder Dr. Oshadie Korale said, ‘At XpressJobs, when we partner with universities, we look for those offering diverse disciplines so our corporate clients benefit from a wide pool of candidates, while students gain access to a range of opportunities across different sectors.’ The MoU was formally signed on 1 October 2025 at the PCHE campus between PCHE Co-Founder and Director of Academics Yasaara Kaluaratchi and XpressJobs Co-Founder/COO Dr. Oshadie Korale. The signing was witnessed by Prospects Holdings Ltd. and PCHE Managing Director Somesh Perera.

PCHE Co-Founder and Director of Academics Yasaara Kaluaratchi said, ‘At PCHE, our mission goes beyond academics, we want to ensure our students are equipped to succeed in their chosen careers. This partnership with XpressJobs is a step toward giving them direct access to real-time opportunities and the confidence to transition into the workforce seamlessly.’

Adding a unique touch to this partnership is the shared history of its signatories: both Kaluaratchi and Dr. Korale are alumnae and classmates of Musaeus College, reconnecting after 18 years to collaborate on a venture that supports the next generation of Sri Lankan professionals.

Through this integration, students will benefit from direct access to XpressJobs’ career platform via the PCHE Career Launchpad, streamlining their ability to explore opportunities in Education, IT, Business Management, Psychology, and beyond.

The Bandaranaike Academy for Leadership and Public Policy is now being recognised as a pioneering institution at the intersection of thought leadership, governance, and professional development. Its latest initiative, the Executive Credential in Leadership and Public Policy (ECLPP), is a one-year, two-semester course designed with precision and foresight. Targeting professionals, executives, and aspiring academics, the program is designed to be a transformative journey-one that blends intellectual rigor with practical insight. BALPP is poised to launch the second batch of the ECLPP soon.

The foremost benefit of enrolling in this course lies in its unique orientation towards the twin pillars of leadership and public policy. In an age where decision-making is increasingly complex, participants will gain not only theoretical understanding but also the ability to translate policy into practice. For mid-career executives, the course provides the tools to elevate themselves beyond managerial competence to strategic vision. For aspiring academics, it opens the door to intellectual engagement with the pressing challenges of governance, development, and ethics.

Skills enhancement is at the very heart of this credential. Under the guidance of distinguished experts, participants will sharpen their analytical capacity, critical reasoning, and persuasive communication. They will learn to interpret data, frame policy options, and design solutions that respond to real-world problems. Equally important, they will cultivate the softer dimensions of leadership: the ability to inspire, negotiate, and manage diverse teams. By the end of two semesters, graduates will emerge not just more knowledgeable, but more agile, confident, and adaptive leaders.

What makes this course especially significant is its uniqueness in the Sri Lankan context. No other tertiary education institution in the country offers such a structured, practice-oriented credential in leadership and public policy. In bridging this gap, BALPP recognises that the nation’s progress depends on producing leaders capable of navigating complexity with integrity and foresight. For participants, this means access to a program that cannot be replicated elsewhere; it is not simply an education, but a distinction.

Finally, the Executive Credential in Leadership and Public Policy is distinguished by the established reputation and academic foundation of BALPP. The Academy’s standing reflects its commitment to delivering programs that are both intellectually rigorous and acutely relevant to the complex challenges of society. For those who earn it, this qualification represents the imprint of high standards – a recognition of personal and professional excellence. Ultimately, the credential is an investment that equips individuals not just to advance their careers, but to make a tangible, thoughtful contribution to the public good.

SLIM NSA 2025, Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing – National Sales Awards 2025 is to hold its grand finale on 28 October.

The NSA 2025 Judging Panel that consists of industry experts, has recognised the excellent performers in the sales sector in Sri Lanka for this year. The judging process was conducted from 13 September to 5 October 2025 at the Monarch Imperial.

This year’s event is to be held under the theme of ‘Ambassadors of Sales,’ under the tagline of ‘The Force Behind the Figures’ because sales is not merely about numbers but about strategic impact, professionalism and leadership. SLIM Sales Awards holds utmost recognition as the impact is not only career defining but also being a prestigious platform that forges the seal of excellence as it is respected among the sales fraternity, being the apex body for the industry and having over 20 year legacy of organising the programme with a transparent, structured judging process led by respected industry leaders.

This year marks as significant due to it exceeding the 1200 entries rewriting the history pages for SLIM NSA as it was the highest number of entries received demonstrating the credibility and the recognition of front liners and the female professionals rising in participation further establishes its name for inclusivity.

Moreover, SLIM National Sales Awards has been officially endorsed by the Ministry of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development to ‘contribute significantly towards strengthening SMEs, enhancing entrepreneurship, and achieving the objectives of the National SME Development Strategy Framework.’

People’s Leasing and Finance PLC (PLC) yesterday listed over 55.4 million new ordinary voting shares following a scrip dividend.

The company reported a group net asset value per share of Rs. 22.72 for the quarter ended June 2025.

The stock was trading at Rs. 28 last afternoon.