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Janashakthi launches 'Vehicle Emergency Policy'

Janashakthi Insurance PLC launched the country's first-ever 24-hour vehicle breakdown policy.

This "Full Option Vehicle Emergency Policy" is operative 24 hours a day and 365 days of the year. It is not only for Janashakthi customers but also for all motorists all over Sri Lanka.

With its wide ranging facilities and services, this Full Option Vehicle Emergency Policy emerges as one of the best-ever products Sri Lanka's insurance industry has seen in recent times.

Janashakthi Insurance PLC Managing Director Prakash Schaffter said, "Apart from an accident, the worst calamity that can befall any motorist is getting stuck on the road. This is a situation that every motorist dreads but is yet a very strong possibility. It is this that led to the birth of the Full Option Vehicle Emergency Policy. It brings great peace of mind to Sri Lanka's hundreds of thousands of motorists in any part of the country that Janashakthi's instant roadside assistance is only a phone call away."

Among the free and paid-for services in this wide ranging and comprehensive policy are jump starting of vehicles, flat tyre and fuse changing, fuel delivery, towing, engine oil, brake oil and coolant top up, locksmith help, electrical fault diagnosis and arranges for an alternate vehicle if needed. It also contacts the vehicle owner's kith and kin informing them of the breakdown thus keep the family at ease.

"We are proud to have been able to develop a service that sets the standards for Sri Lanka's insurance, a service that will eventually embrace all motorists irrespective of whom their car is insured with. Such is the diversity and scope of this policy.

This revolutionary policy is undoubtedly a landmark and a first in Sri Lanka. Not only does it raise the bar of Sri Lanka's insurance and motoring industry and take it to greater heights, but it also heralds the birth of a new culture in insurance, which, I am confident will rapidly grow among the Sri Lankan masses," Schaffter said.

Janashakthi Insurance PLC Head of Marketing Paddy Weerasekera said, "Our technically qualified support team 'Rapid Recovery Force' comprises over 120 qualified and experienced technicians who are supported with a fleet of vans, bikes and tow trucks to reach customers in the quickest possible time. We have tied up with over 130 affiliated garages across the island. They have all been very carefully scrutinized to meet the highest expectations of our customers and thus raise the bar of service standards."

Outlining plans for the future, Weerasekera said, "We will further continue to rapidly expand our existing affiliated network of 130 garages. In addition to this we will tie up with spare part dealers, service stations and other vehicle related dealers to give a true enhanced customer experience. The primary objective of this policy is to offer complete peace of mind to a customer, anywhere in the island at anytime, by being there to help a vehicle owner in his or her time of need.

Arpico Finance opens in Anuradhapura

Arpico Finance Company PLC opened its newest branch in Anuradhapura at No 488.8F, Maithreepala Senanayake Mawatha.

The branch was opened by Arpico Finance Company PLC Joint Managing Director Senakke R Bandaranayake. Arpico Finance Company PLC's financial solutions in Anuradhapura have the added advantage of speedy execution of customized packages and continuously trained staff. Another salient feature of Arpico Finance Company PLC Anuradhapura Branch is that, in addition to competitively packaged financial solutions there are many alternative options offering tailor-made solutions to suit individual's cash-flow.

In Anuradhapura Arpico Finance Company PLC is also re-engineering its planning and implementation process in achieving alternative options in market development and product development.

Forte International partners Global Hospitals

Forte International, a member of the Forte Group has been appointed as the strategic partner for India's Global Hospitals Group on account of the close ties the Forte Group has in the healthcare industry. Forte, as the strategic partner of Global Hospitals will take care and service patients who are seeking medical aid in India.

Forte Group Chairman and CEO M F A Riyas said that they intend doing this with the support of the Sri Lankan doctors and the medical profession who will refer patients who in their opinion require medical attention overseas. Patients could also approach the Forte Group directly as well.

Forte Pharmaceuticals, one of the authorized agents in Sri Lanka to import and distribute the CIPLA range of products as well as those of their sister companies OKASA Pharma and Medi Spray Laboratories, import 80 percent of their drugs from India, with the balance coming from Y.S.P industries Malaysia. "We also have a division of chemicals which include Melamine testing kits, water treatment chemicals, pharmaceutical manufacturing and laboratory equipment, as well as testing chemicals. There is a vast market especially in the government and manufacturing sectors," Riyas said.

"In 1995 a globally reputed manufacturer of world class healthcare products, Kuteks of Turkey, collaborated with the Forte Group of companies to set up a new BOI venture, Forte Healthcare (Pvt) Ltd, which was granted the total marketing rights for Kuteks products to Hemas Pharmaceuticals in Sri Lanka and we hope to expand this segment of our business further," said Riyas.

Global Hospitals was founded by Dr K Ravindranath, a pioneer in surgical gastroenterology and laparoscopic surgery a decade ago in Hyderabad, with a vision of saving lives and nurturing life through technology, skills, teamwork and ethics.

"Our mission is to achieve our dream of a healthy world through continuous innovation, dedication to quality and provision of compassionate and affordable medical services; I have miles to go before I sleep," said Dr Ravindranath.

Stock market software solutions:

Infoline selects IronOne

Charumini DE SILVA

IronOne Technologies, one of the leading stock market software solutions providers in Sri Lanka, has been chosen by the new-entrant Indian brokerage India Infoline Securities as the IT services provider for its operations in Sri Lanka. India Infoline Securities’ Sri Lankan operation signed up the IT services agreement with IronOne Technologies to provision its total software platform requirements recently.

“Sri Lanka has emerged as a highly promising destination for growth and investments. IIFL’s proven experience and strength will help in setting up the broking and investment banking business in Sri Lanka at a fast pace and participate in its growth,” IIFL Securities Ceylon (Pvt) Ltd., Country Head, Priyani Ratna-Gopal said.

IIFL Ceylon is a subsidiary of IIFL of India and commenced operations in Sri Lanka to offer the entire range of financial services such as investment banking and institutional equities among others. IIFL aims to leverage upon its strengths in technology and its acclaimed research capabilities to effectively cater to domestic and foreign institutional investors in Sri Lanka.

She said during August IIFL’s Indian parent company technology experts evaluated the stock market solutions available in Sri Lanka in comparison with customizing and launching their Indian solution at IIFL in Colombo. They were impressed with the Atrad solution platform offering as it is deployable immediately to facilitate the start of operations without the need of any extra customization delay.

They also mentioned that the Atrad solutions platform handles the total IT needs of the brokerage firm from online trading (front office solution) to the back office solution including the GL accounting.

IIFL is the institutional equities division of India Infoline Ltd, a listed multi-services financial company with a market capitalization of US $ 400 million. With a team of 25 research analysts, a full-fledged sales and trading team, and an experienced investment banking team, IIFL is rapidly emerging as one of the premier institutional equities houses in India.

IronOne Technologies’ Atrad stock market software platform has been selected and launched for back office operations including General Ledger (GL) and internet online trading, to effectively cater to domestic and foreign institutional investors in Sri Lanka.

“Specifically the inclusion of the GL and total accounting solution in IronOne’s solutions and the fact that it was ready for operational live deployment within one day were key points for our decision,” she said.

Atrad solutions are deployment ready sans any customization for the Sri Lankan market and CSE requirements. The speed of deployment to live operations, where Atrad broker back office solution was deployed at IIFL Securities Ceylon with the ability to be on live operations within one day of confirming the order.

Ratna-Gopal said, “IIFL Securities Ceylon is now already fully operational with Atrad. Therefore our decision to use a ready to use solution such as Atrad has been a vital enabler for us to be operational immediately.”

IronOne Technologies Co-founding Director and Chief Technology officer Lakmini Wijesundera spearheads the Atrad - Stock Market Solutions Division of IronOne as it is the fastest growing business line of the company with a view to expanding the product and continuously improving its features.

Currently eight stockbrokers use Atrad solutions to provide web based online market access and web based back office, which includes processing of settlements and accounting functionality.

“The market is picking up greatly and there will be an increase of online trading in the near future. During the financial downturn we upgraded and created new solutions. It was an investment and today with market growing rapidly with new players entering it has helped us greatly to provide them quick solutions”, Wijesundera said.

The solution is used by both foreign owned broker firms which entered operations in Sri Lanka, in addition to the local brokerage operations. IronOne Technologies is a privately owned company with offices in Austin Texas USA and Sri Lanka. IronOne has over 65 IT professionals with a global clientele with a focus in the financial sector. The company is a Gold certified Microsoft Partner and also a Sun certified partner. IronOne technologies has a products portfolio which covers ‘InfoSense banking’ business Intelligence solutions for banks, mobile technology solutions including iPhone and BlackBerry device support and Atrad stock market solutions.

Bogawantalawa - The best place to have a cuppa

Adding more strength to the teas that are brewed under Bogawantalawa Tea Estates PLC (BTE), the ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ has identified Bogawantalawa Valley as one of the top ten places in the world to have a cup of tea. Bogawantalawa Valley has been rated with locations such as The Ritz London, Trans-Siberian Railway Russia, Yueyang China, Temple-strewn Uji district in Japan and the historical Inca Trail in Peru.

The Sydney Morning Herald, the oldest newspaper in Australia that is famous for maintaining high standards of journalism, in their recently conducted survey, referring to the Golden Valley of Tea in Sri Lanka said “To get in among the action take to the trails in the Bogawantalawa Valley, where you can walk or cycle between old planters’ villas and pluck a few leaves for yourself.”

The leaves are meticulously hand picked, carefully processed and hygienically packed before it reaches one’s cup.

BTE Strategic Planning and Projects Director Jayampathy Molligoda said “With years of experience we are positioned to be the preferred private label partner for discerning customers. We offer our customers the full spectrum of products and services direct from our own estates- starting from the process “tea plucking” to “packaging”.

He said that BTE pledges complete traceability for the origin of their teas which in turn acts as a guarantee for quality, standards and freshness.

Out of about 450 tea exporters in Sri Lanka only three have their own tea plantations. BTE is one of them. This has ensured cost effectiveness, adherence to quality standards and has eliminated the usual interruptions that take place during conventional method of export.

BTE Director/C.E.O Sarath Fernando said that the company has already obtained HACCP, BRC Food Standard, ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 22000:2005 certifications for their manufacturing practices that further guarantees superior quality teas for their customers.

“We are about to receive SA 8000(Social Accountability) certificate for Bogawantalawa, Bogawana, Norwood and Wanarajah Tea factories and Fair Trade Labels for seven tea estates including the factories in Bogawantalawa Valley.” Fernando said.

BTE has two parent brands of tea, namely, ‘Ceylon Tea Gardens’ and ‘Bogawantalawa Teas’. Under these two main brands the product range extends to black tea, green tea, herbal tea, organic tea, flavoured tea and iced teas. Currently BTE exports teas to traditional markets such as UK, Russia, Japan and Middle East whilst establishing themselves in new markets in US, Lithuania and Holland. BTE together with its US partner, Walters Bay International has secured the global award for the Best Iced Tea Processor continuously since 2004.

In addition this consortium was awarded with the Best Chai Iced Tea award in 2005 and the Best Flavoured Iced Tea award at the World Tea Expo exhibition in the USA.

Molligoda said that BTE is in the process of embarking on a tea based eco-tourism path very soon.

Sierra sets up regional hub in Kilinochchi

Sierra Global Network Private Limited, a subsidiary of Sierra Group of Companies has established its latest Regional Office in Kilinochchi making the first telecommunication infrastructure development company to moving in to the newly liberated area (NLA) in full strength.

The Regional Office is set up along the A9 road in the heart of Kilinochchi town and will be used as the hub for all the telecommunication construction, engineering and maintenance work in newly liberated areas including Iranamadu, Kokkavil, Mankulam, Pooneryn and Mullaitivu.

“Sierra has been actively serving the North region over a period of 20 years and maintained its permanent office in Jaffna where construction of towers, fibre optic cable networks as well as the new Court Complex, Technical College, Road constructions were successfully undertaken.

Adding the latest office in Kilinochchi will further strengthen Sierra’s ability to pioneer in forthcoming developments in the region which are planned under ‘Uthuru Wasanthaya’ and number of various other programs” said Director/CEO Dr. Arosha Fernando after his recent visit to Northern Province.

Travel insurance promotion:

Free tickets from Emirates

Passengers on Emirates flights from Colombo can now win free return tickets to Singapore by purchasing Travel Guard insurance, a product underwritten by the global insurance giant Chartis.

Commencing October 1, the award-winning Dubai-based airline will present one ticket a month for three months, through a draw for all passengers who fulfil the requirements of this latest promotion, regardless of their destinations or class of travel.

“Although airlines do not require travel insurance, many countries have made it a mandatory requirement,” said, Emirates Sales Manager in Sri Lanka Devika Ellepola. “Insurance is therefore becoming integral to travel.

This promotion is a value-addition that will reward our passengers for purchasing travel insurance and create more awareness of its value,” she said.