Business

‘Beyond EPF: Why Sri Lanka’s professional class needs a retirement revolution’

Published

2 months ago

2026/04/23

Ranga Abeynayake, Director/ Deputy CEO

There is a conversation that does not happen often enough in Sri Lankan workplaces, boardrooms, or at the family dinner table. It is not about salaries, or school fees, or the cost of the next car. It is about what happens when the salary stops.

Most professionals in their thirties and forties are managing life reasonably well, or working hard at it. They have mortgages, school fees, the occasional holiday, perhaps a small investment on the side. They know EPF exists. They probably have a passbook somewhere. What most of them have not done is think carefully about what that EPF balance will actually mean when the time comes to stop working.

It is a gap that Ceylinco Life, as Sri Lanka’s life insurance market leader, has spent three decades observing, and one it believes the professional class can no longer afford to ignore.

This is not carelessness. In many ways, it is entirely rational. When you are forty, retirement is two decades away. Two decades is an abstraction, and it is difficult to feel urgency about an abstraction. The problem is that by the time it stops feeling abstract, the window for meaningful action has largely closed.

The EPF Illusion

Let us look at what EPF actually delivers. According to the EPF Annual Report 2024, total EPF benefit payments for the year amounted to approximately LKR 230 billion, including both retirement settlements and authorised pre-retirement withdrawals for housing and medical purposes permitted under the Act. These payments represent workers exiting the system at retirement or upon death, often after decades of contributions. When the retirement-specific payouts are considered against the number of members leaving the Fund, the average EPF balance available at retirement remains modest. Sri Lanka’s standard retirement age for private sector workers is 60, while average life expectancy now stands at approximately 77 to 78 years. That arithmetic alone should give pause: spread across an expected retirement period of fifteen or more years, the typical EPF settlement translates into only a few thousand rupees per month.

For context: a kilogram of rice costs more today than a full meal did a decade ago. A single private hospital consultation can run to LKR 2,000 to 4,000. A monthly prescription for a common chronic condition easily exceeds LKR 10,000. EPF, on its own, does not cover any of this with any real comfort.

And that is before inflation enters the picture, the most patient and persistent force in personal finance. Sri Lanka’s inflationary history is a reminder of how corrosively time erodes purchasing power. A monthly income that feels adequate at retirement can lose a substantial portion of its real value within a decade. The numbers are not punishing by accident. They are simply the mathematics of time and money working against anyone who is not paying attention.

The typical EPF settlement, spread across fifteen or more years of retirement, amounts to only a few thousand rupees a month. At today’s cost of living, that is not a retirement income. It is a problem.

“EPF was never designed to be a complete retirement solution. It is a foundation, and a necessary one, but for the professional class in particular, treating it as the whole answer is a decision that will be felt very painfully in the final decades of life,” says Ranga Abeynayake, Director/ Deputy CEO.

Who Is Most at Risk

It would be a mistake to assume that retirement vulnerability is a problem only for low-income workers. The professional class, middle and upper-middle income earners with stable jobs and reasonable salaries, carries its own version of this risk. In some ways, a more insidious one.

Professionals tend to carry higher lifestyle costs. Their housing is more expensive. Their children attend better-resourced schools. They eat out more, travel more, and spend more on healthcare. When retirement comes, the monthly income gap they need to fill is rarely LKR 50,000. It is more often LKR 150,000 to 200,000 or above, depending on the life they have built.

Yet retirement savings rarely scale in proportion to that income. EPF contributions are capped by salary bands. Many private sector professionals, particularly those who have moved between employers, have fragmented EPF records with inconsistent balances. Business owners and the self-employed may have no EPF at all. And very few, across any of these categories, have sat down and calculated their actual monthly requirement at retirement, adjusted for inflation, healthcare costs, and the possibility of a partner who may outlive them by a decade.

“The professionals we are most concerned about are not struggling today. They have good salaries, reasonable assets, and every intention of sorting out retirement eventually. That word, eventually, is where the problem lives,” says Abeynayake.

The Sandwich Generation Problem

There is one group that deserves particular attention: what demographers refer to as the sandwich generation. These are people, typically in their forties, who are simultaneously supporting their children through education and their ageing parents through retirement or illness. Financially, they are being pressed from both sides, and their own retirement savings are invariably the first thing to be deprioritised.

Sri Lanka’s demographic trajectory makes this harder. By 2042, one in four Sri Lankans will be elderly. That shift places mounting pressure on the working-age population. Many of today’s forty-year-olds will, in practice, be funding two retirements, their parents’ and eventually their own, while simultaneously navigating the most expensive phase of raising children. Without a plan, that combination is a financial storm.

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Business

Sri Lanka worthy of being ranked as the world’s top holiday spot – cricketing great Wasim Akram

Published

22 hours ago

2026/06/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

Cricketing great Wasim Akram being felicitated by chairman Softlogic Life Ashok Pathirage.(R)

Pakistani cricketing legend Wasim Akram said Sri Lanka is the best tourist destination and is worthy of being ranked the world’s top holiday spot. ‘The island’s natural beauty and my decades-long connection with the country, are factors that enhance Sri Lanka’s value, he explained.

Speaking at a Softlogic Life investor forum in Colombo last Tuesday Akram said Sri Lanka remained one of his favourite destinations despite having traveled extensively around the world.

Akram who captained the Pakistani national cricket team and was celebrated as Softlogic Life’s brand ambassador said filming the company’s latest television commercial gave him another opportunity to experience some of the country’s most scenic locations, including Galle and the central highlands.

Akram said Sri Lanka’s landscapes, rivers and coastline were among the most beautiful he had beheld during his travels and expressed surprise that the country was not already considered one of the world’s leading tourism destinations.

Having first visited Sri Lanka as a teenager in 1985, Akram said he had returned numerous times over the years as a player, commentator and tourist. He added that he plans to continue visiting the island regularly and hopes to explore more of the east coast in the future.

Softlogic Life had impressive growth last year and is looking forward to introducing new life insurance products to the local market considering the increasing the aging population in Sri Lanka.

By Hiran H. Senewiratne

Business

Veenath Indrajith from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura wins the 2026 Saman Kelegama Memorial Research Grant

Published

22 hours ago

2026/06/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

Veenath Indrajith / Dr Saman Kelegama

Veenath Indrajith, a fourth-year undergraduate from the Department of Business Economics at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, has been selected as the winner of the Saman Kelegama Memorial Research Grant for 2026. Indrajith’s academic and professional interests lie in economics, finance, investment, and policy-oriented research. In addition to his undergraduate studies, he is currently pursuing the Chartered Accountancy qualification in Sri Lanka, demonstrating a strong commitment to analytical rigour and professional excellence. He aspires to contribute to evidence-based policymaking through applied economic research.

Indrajith’s research study, titled “Small Vehicle Businesses and Household Investors Using the Second-Hand Car Market as an Alternative Investment Method in the Colombo District of Sri Lanka,” will adopt a qualitative research approach to explore the motivations, experiences, perceived returns, and risks associated with investing in used vehicles. By analysing household-level decision-making and investment behaviour, the research aims to shed light on a relatively underexplored area of Sri Lanka’s alternative investment landscape. The findings are expected to provide valuable insights for policymakers, particularly in relation to financial literacy, household investment strategies, and the development and regulation of alternative investment markets in Sri Lanka.

The Saman Kelegama Memorial Research Grant, established in 2018, honours the legacy of the late Dr. Saman Kelegama, former Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS), whose work significantly shaped public policy discourse on socio-economic development in Sri Lanka and the broader South Asian region. The grant is awarded annually to an outstanding undergraduate student from a Sri Lankan university, with the aim of encouraging innovative, policy-relevant research and nurturing the next generation of policy thinkers. As part of this grant, Indrajith will receive training and mentoring from IPS senior researchers to complete the proposed study.

Business

Delmege Consumer partners with Daraz

Published

23 hours ago

2026/06/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

Signing ceremony - from Left to Right - Dushan Khadagammege, Head of Retail and Supply Chain, Daraz, with the team from the Delmege Group comprising Baratha Piyadigama Group Head of Marketing, Shanaka Rajapaksha Manager Marketing Delmege Consumer, Atheeq Kabeer Manager E- Commerce and Digital Marketing .

Delmege Consumer, the flagship FMCG cluster of the Delmege Group, has evolved into one of Sri Lanka’s most trusted household names, building lasting relationships with communities across the island through a diverse portfolio of quality products that have become an integral part of consumers’ everyday lives for generations. Renowned for enriching households with Delmege’s own brands, leading local brands, and world-renowned international brands, the company continues to strengthen its presence, reputation, and connection with consumers nationwide.

A key strength of the FMCG cluster lies in the strong and enduring partnerships it has cultivated with suppliers, enabling the company to establish a responsive, time-sensitive, and mutually beneficial distribution network that has made a significant impact across Sri Lanka. Through its extensive reach and customer-focused approach, Delmege Consumer serves retail, wholesale, HoReCa, export, and modern trade channels, supported by flexible channel management strategies and winning consumer-centric propositions that cater to evolving market needs.

Further strengthening its distribution network and expanding its digital footprint, Delmege Consumer has partnered with Daraz, Sri Lanka’s leading e-commerce platform, to offer customers a more convenient, seamless, and accessible way to purchase its extensive range of FMCG products online.

Commenting on the partnership, Anil Meegahage, CEO of Delmege Consumer, stated:

“At Delmege Consumer, we are committed to innovation, continuously strengthening our product portfolio, and enhancing customer convenience and experience. Our partnership with Daraz enables us to serve customers across the country more efficiently by providing them with an easy, secure, and reliable platform to purchase trusted Delmege FMCG products online.”

Adding further, Baratha Piyadigama, Head of Group Marketing, Delmege, said:

“This partnership with Daraz marks another important milestone in our journey to enhance brand positioning, visibility, and awareness, especially at a time when digital and online commerce continue to gain significant momentum. As one of Sri Lanka’s leading FMCG distributors, we are proud to extend our trusted portfolio of products into the digital space through Daraz, ensuring customers across the island can conveniently access their favourite products with just a few clicks.”

Delmege’s extensive FMCG portfolio includes well-known Delmege branded products such as Canned Fish, Hiru Kahata Tea, Delmege Soya, Flavours and Colours, Delmege Pasta,

Delmege Noodles, and Salt, together with the much-loved Motha range of dessert ingredients, beverages, and mixes. The company also represents globally renowned international brands including Kellogg’s cereals such as Corn Flakes, Muesli, and Oats; Pringles; and the Ferrero portfolio featuring Ferrero Rocher, Nutella, Kinder Joy, and Tic Tac. Through its diverse and trusted brand portfolio, Delmege Consumer continues to reinforce its position as one of Sri Lanka’s leading FMCG companies.