Assetline Leasing strives to help SMEs

Sara Pathirana

With emerging businesses, entrepreneurs and markets in Sri Lanka and at a time where competition among businesses materializes, the public and business owners activities to penetrate markets and working towards gaining recognition and making a living in society, needs to be focused on. Especially as small and medium businesses form the backbone of our economy.

Assetline Leasing Company Ltd. can be described as one of those companies that strive to open doors for small and medium businesses and individuals who work for achieving a higher step in life. Speaking to Daily News Business, Deputy Managing Director, Rohana Dissanayake, Director/Chief Operating Officer, Ananda Seneviratne, Divisional Manager/ Business Planning & Market Development, Ajanta Premasiri and Assistant Manager/ Advertising & Sales Promotions, Chalaka Samarasinghe gave us their approach on the main attributes that highlighted Assetline Leasing Co. Ltd.

David Pieris Motor Company (DPMC) Assetline Holdings (Pvt) Ltd. is the affiliated and holding company for Assetline Leasing Company Limited (ALL). Assetline Leasing commenced operations in 2003 and today, is one of the largest specialized leasing companies in the country. In 1994, Assetline Leasing became an independent institution away from the DPMC Group.

Initially, Assetline Leasing specialized mainly in offering lease for motorcycles and three-wheelers and specialized in three main categories, leasing, hire purchase and loans.

We offer Bajaj three-wheelers, with a 90% market share in Sri Lanka and more than 79% market share for motorcycles. To that extent, it shows the level of demand for these products in Sri Lanka and is further expanding.

“We have come a long way since 2003 and the company has established itself among the public through our market awareness and dedication to providing a customer-friendly approach,” Deputy Managing Director, Rohana Dissanayake said. He also explained that with their clientele of 90,000, the company is registered under the Central Bank as one of the leading leasing companies in the country.

“Our focus is to provide a speedy service that is convenient with facilities that are tailor-made and would suit the client's needs where we also provide attractive interest rates and down payments with minimum documentation work. In this industry, we have provided payments convenience for our clients where we could achieve less defaulting clients due to the ease of payment,” Director/Chief Operating Officer, Ananda Seneviratne said.

Assetline Leasing focuses on the chain effect to contribute to the country's economy by supporting small and medium sectors through their services, especially by helping people from the outskirts of Colombo such as farmers, carpenters, self-employed individuals etc. to acquire products that are suited to their means of income and payments. Assetline Leasing Company Ltd., with 36 branches island-wide, is planning to expand to 50 branches before March 31, 2014, under DPMCs brand.

Four months ago we initiated a new concept for milk farmers in Kurunegala and Anuradhapura to go through a valuation process through an investigation where we can also show focus towards implementing agricultural industries in the country as well, Dissanayake said. He also acknowledged that they give employment priority to school leavers and passed out graduates and conduct structured programmes on products, field knowledge etc.

“We recruit freshers where they would grow with the industry. We also work towards contributing to the respective areas or regions when we expand so that the locals can benefit by gaining employment opportunities,” he added. One significant feature of the leaders in the hierarchy is that they get down into the field and that helps them get close to the pros and cons of the industry and work towards improvement.

“We have a strategic plan for the next five years and we review all aspects together with current competition and I can proudly say that we are at a strong financial position,” Dissanayake concluded.