Indian firms in fresh effort to win more Lankan biz

EEPC India Chairman T. S. Bhasin, High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka Y. K. Sinha,  Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva, EEPC Committee Chairman (Trade with SAARC countries) 

P. R. Venkatachalam and EEPC India Executive Director and Secretary Bhaskar Sarkar open the Indian exhibition yesterday at the BMICH 

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By Hiruni Dabarera

Undeterred by politicised opposition in Sri Lanka over a new bilateral deal India’s private sector yesterday kicked off a fresh initiative to win more business with the opening of a mega three-day exhibition of machinery, industrial supplies and technology in Colombo.

Around 86 firms are present at the INDEE Sri Lanka 2016, organised by the Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC), showcasing exhibits from diverse sectors like passenger and commercial vehicles, automotive components, lifting and mining machinery, domestic appliances, pumps, basic metals and products.

The event at the BMICH was inaugurated by Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva as the Chief Guest along with Indian High Commissioner Y. K. Sinha as the Guest of Honour.

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The Minister emphasised the importance of carrying out bilateral trading relations with India which is ranked as the third largest economy in Asia. 

“With a GDP growth rate of 7.5% recorded last year and aggressive reformative economic measures, India is quite a beneficial trading partner for Sri Lanka. It is indeed a great pleasure to support events such as this which bring people-to-people contact between two neighbouring countries and not limited to heads of state or trading officials,” Siripala said.

He also called for an exhibition of similar nature in India by Sri Lankan entrepreneurs. 

 “Trading relationships between India and Sri Lanka go back almost 2500 years. India is Sri Lanka’s largest trading partner at present, and Sri Lanka is India’s third in the SAARC region,” said Indian High Commissioner Sinha.

He said that as a result of the India Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement signed in 2000, trade between the two countries saw a revenue of US$ 4.7 billion last year (Indian exports account to $4 billion while Sri Lankan exports account to $645million). 

Leading Indian companies like TATA, Lanka IOC and Lanka Ashok Leyland have established a strong investment presence in Sri Lanka amounting to over $1 billion, while India has also achieved a significant development partnership with Sri Lanka amounting to over $ 2.6 billion. 

EEPC Chairman T. S. Bhasin said holding an exhibition of this nature in Sri Lanka was quite apt and will boost economic ties between the two nations.

He said that the engineering sector is the crucial backbone of the Indian economy. Exports from the engineering sector is nearly 20% of the country’s overall exports and Sri Lanka features among the top three export destinations with US$ 2.37 billion engineering exports during 2015-16. 

“We believe that an exhibition of this nature will raise awareness about India’s rapid progress in the engineering sector across the globe,” he said, adding that the engineering sector is the fulcrum of any modern economy and hopefully INDEE will forge new partnerships that will help both economies progress. 

EEPC also signed separate Memorandums of Understanding with the Ceylon National Chamber of Industries, the National Chamber of Commerce and the Colombo Chamber of Commerce to further strengthen ties with the Sri Lankan private sector.