Rural Competition

The Hapag-Lloyd delegation including, Capt. Prateek Gandhi – Director Operations, Hapag-Lloyd, Regional Office, Dubai,Mr. Faheem Mir – Manager - Operations, Hapag-Lloyd, Regional Office, Dubai,Mr. Lalith Witanachchi – Vice President, Hapag-Lloyd Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Mr. Mindaka Dassanayake – General Manager, Hapag-Lloyd Lanka (Pvt) Ltd.,Mr. Rohan Ranasinghe – Terminal Operations Manager, Hapag-Lloyd AG and Mr. Iqram Cuttilan – Managing Director, Aitken Spence Shipping Ltd poses for a pic with SLPA’s Chairman -Admiral Sirimewan Ranasinghe and the Managing Director - Eng. Ganaka Hemachandra. SLPA's Vice Chairman - Eng. Herath M.P. Jayawardhana, Director (Operations) - Mrs. G. Zavia Miskin and Director (Marketing and BD) - Mr. H J K U Kumara are also present.

Aug 19, 2010 (LBO) - India's Mahindra and Mahindra group plans to enter Sri Lanka's financial sector, especially the rural areas, officials said. There were "imminent opportunities in financial services', said Ramesh Iyer, managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services.

"Capital is not a constraint in terms of wanting to grow in Sri Lanka. We want to start quickly by getting into financing Mahindra vehicles and tractors."

The group will then get into financing all automobiles and later get into all financial sectors such as rural housing.

"We like to work beyond metro markets which are overcrowded," Iyer told a news conference Wednesday during a visit to Colombo as part of a team led by Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the Mahindra Group.

"If the vehicle sector has to grow, credit has to reach beyond metro markets. That's our approach."

The 7.1 billion US dollar Mahindra Group manufactures utility vehicles and tractors in India, is in information technology, and has a growing business in financial services, tourism, infrastructure development, trade and logistics.

It also supplies