‘New industry start-ups rise by over 4% in 2011’
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
percent at 2011’s close.
Minister Bathiudeen |
The experimental Single Window System project launched by the
Industry and Commerce Ministry too is successful’ revealed Industry and
Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen.
Minister Bathiudeen was addressing the officials of the Industry and
Commerce Ministry on December 30, at the Ministry premises at Colombo 3.
‘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
percent in the third quarter, boosted by expanding industrial sector
(10.8 percent increase) from a year ago, compared with 8.8 percent 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 Industry and Commerce
Ministry and the new micro scale start-ups are not accounted for here.
As per the Industry and Commerce Ministry 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 and 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 and FS
has begun its test pilot recently at the Kolonnawa Industrial Zone
located in the vicinity of Gothatuwa.
The first SWIR and 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). |