New industry start-ups rise by more than 4% in 2011, Single Window tests successful: Bathiudeen

As Sri Lanka reported strong third quarter GDP growth numbers pushed by the industrial sector, country’s new industry registrations too have jumped. “Sri Lanka’s new industry registrations rose by more than 4% at 2011’s close. The experimental Single Window System project launched by the Industry and Commerce Ministry too is successful,” revealed Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen.

Minister Bathiudeen was addressing the officials of his Industry and Commerce Ministry on December 30, 2011.

“As of the last business day of 2011, an overall total of 1877 non-BoI medium and large scale industries have been registered in our own database. In 2011 alone, 72 new such industries have been registered spanning many sectors. This is a 4.36% increase from the overall totals seen at the end of 2010,” Minister Bathiudeen said.

Data obtained from the Management Info System (MIS) Division of the Industry and Commerce Ministry showed that the chemical, petroleum, rubber and plastic and textile and apparel sectors equally reporting the highest new industry registrations in 2011 (increasing to 451 and 450 total industries registered in these sectors, respectively), followed by ‘Fabricated Metal Products’ and ‘Food and Beverage’. Basic Metal Products and Wood and Wood Products sectors reported comparatively lower number of industry start-ups in 2011.

Sri Lanka’s GDP grew 8.4 per cent in the third quarter, boosted by expanding industrial sector (10.8 per cent increase) from a year ago, compared with 8.8 per cent in the same period of 2010, according to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

It should also be noted that the new industry start-ups commencing operations without registering through the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the new micro scale start-ups are not accounted for here. As per the Ministry of Industry and Commerce’ criteria, a new industry, to be considered as medium and large scale, needs to invest Rs. 10 million (US $ 87000) or more, initially.

“I am also very pleased to inform that the ‘Single Window Industry Registration and Facilitation System’ (SWIR&FS) piloted by us, is successful. We already processed 14 new registrations successfully through our first new test system after proper inspections and verification procedures,” Minister Bathiudeen revealed.

Sri Lanka’s first SWIR&FS has begun its test pilot recently at the Kolonnawa Industrial Zone located in the vicinity of Gothatuwa, a suburb of Colombo city. The first SWIR&FS has successfully slashed the usual 30 day new industry registration period to just a single day. Officials of the Ministry stressed that if the necessary documents are in proper order, the registration process could be completed in one day (for the tested industrial zone).