Business
Kotmale Dairy: Translating Ranjit Page’s vision into action
A recent visit to Kotmale Dairy’s Banduragoda plant provided a firsthand look at how the vision of a leading Sri Lankan corporate leader is being realized.The Banduragoda facility, the largest of Kotmale’s three plants, operates under stringent global standards for sustainability and hygiene. Here, milk collected from cluster societies of dairy farmers is stored under optimal chilling conditions and processed with meticulous attention to quality. The synchronized operations within the plant resemble a well-rehearsed orchestra, ensuring that every product – from ice cream to yoghurt – reaches consumers in peak condition.
Ranjit Page, Deputy Chairman of Cargills Group, Kotmale’s parent company, was deeply moved by the sacrifices of young soldiers and police officers from rural Sri Lanka who helped restore peace in the country in 2009. This reflection inspired him to establish Kotmale Dairy in 2010, with a mission to economically empower rural communities, and create a sustainable ecosystem for fresh milk and dairy products.
Since its inception, Kotmale Dairy has grown into Sri Lanka’s largest fresh milk aggregator, collecting around 185,000 liters of milk daily from over 17,000 smallholder dairy farmers. By eliminating middlemen and ensuring fair farmgate prices, Kotmale provides rural families with a stable income while delivering consistent quality to consumers. This initiative not only reduces import dependency but also strengthens the national economy.
During the visit, it was evident that the management and staff at the Banduragoda plant are fully aligned with their leader’s vision. Their mission is clear: to bridge the nutritional gap by ensuring affordable access to quality dairy products for all. Kotmale’s diverse portfolio including fresh milk, yoghurt, cheese, butter, curd, UHT and pasteurized milk, and dairy ice cream, all made from 100% local milk, reinforces its commitment to nutrition and excellence.
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- Krishantha Kumarage, Head of Kotmale Dairy Development and Milk Procurement
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- Janaka, dairy farmer turned dairy entrepreneur in Pallewela, Gampaha
The plant’s dedication to quality was visible in every aspect of its operations. To maintain the integrity of temperature-sensitive products like ice cream, Kotmale employs a 24/7 monitoring system for its delivery fleet. With 66 vehicles dedicated solely to ice cream distribution, every step of the process is carefully supervised to guarantee optimal product condition upon arrival.
Yet, Kotmale Dairy’s mission extends beyond processing milk – it is fundamentally about empowering the farmers who produce it. Through its farmer development programme, Kotmale supports Sri Lanka’s drive towards milk self-sufficiency by providing technology, training, veterinary care, artificial insemination, and subsidized feed. These initiatives enhance productivity, improve animal health, and uplift farmers’ livelihoods.
Krishantha Kumarage, Head of Dairy Development and Milk Procurement, revealed that Kotmale disburses Rs. 1 billion monthly to rural dairy farmers.
“Only 40% of Sri Lanka’s milk demand is met locally,” he noted, highlighting significant growth potential. “While the national average milk yield per cow is around 2 liters, farmers in Kotmale’s network achieve far higher outputs – approximately 10 liters in the highlands and 5 liters in the low-country dry zone,” he said.
Kotmale automated milk collection centre in Banduragoda Pics by Sujatha Jayarathna
“We have identified around 2,000 high-potential dairy farmers nationwide for targeted training and support to enhance their cows’ productivity. This initiative is already showing results. Within two years, participants have seen an 18- 20% increase in milk yield. Our goal is to replicate and accelerate this success,” he noted.
Meanwhile, personal stories from farmers underscored Kotmale’s impact. Janaka, a dairy farmer from Pallewela in Gampaha district, shared how Kotmale helped his family achieve decent living standards. “We now produce 25 liters of milk daily and aim to reach 50 liters soon with Kotmale’s support,” he said. “
“Kotmale has lifted us from poverty to entrepreneurship, “his wife, Renuka Damayanthi, echoed her sentiment, emphasizing the happiness and stability brought to her family through their partnership with Kotmale.
Another farmer named Nimesh Madushanka, supported by his mother, expressed similar gratitude for the transformative role Kotmale has played in their lives.
Those experiences of dairy farmers reflected a broader narrative of resilience and hope within Sri Lanka’s rural communities.
As Cargills Dairy continues to turn vision into action, its initiatives demonstrate an unwavering commitment to rural economic upliftment. By boosting productivity, ensuring fair compensation, and promoting sustainable practices, Kotmale Dairy is not only fulfilling Ranjit Page’s vision but also paving the way for a thriving future for Sri Lanka’s dairy farmers.
In Page’s words, “Rural prosperity is the bedrock of national progress” – and through Kotmale, that vision is steadily becoming reality.
By Sanath Nanayakkare
Sri Lanka has launched a National Digital Signing Framework, a foundational initiative paving the way for paperless governance. This strategic move eliminates the need for physical signatures and documents in government transactions, aiming to dramatically enhance efficiency, transparency, and accessibility for citizens and businesses. An analyst said that this could accelerate Sri Lanka’s governance and commercial relationships with other countries as traditional signatures make room for digitally signed documents accepted by the government.
In this significant step toward accelerating Sri Lanka’s digital transformation, eMudhra, a global leader in digital identity and security solutions, has entered into a strategic partnership with LankaSign the only Certification Service Provider (CSP) in the country that complies with the Electronic Transactions Act No. 19 of 2006, operated by LankaPay, Sri Lanka’s national payment network during recently held inauguration of INFOTEL 2025 ICT exhibition at Sirimavo Bandaranaike Exhibition Hall.
The LankaSign–eMudhra partnership brings together the strengths of LankaPay’s legally recognized digital signing certificates issued via LankaSign – the pioneering digital Certification Service Provider in Sri Lanka established in 2009 – and eMudhra’s globally trusted emSigner platform, which has enabled secure digital document signing across more than 68 countries since 2008. Through this collaboration, Sri Lankan citizens and businesses will be able to experience a seamless, secure, and user-friendly digital signing solution, enabling documents to be signed anytime, anywhere using iOS, Android, or web-based applications.
This partnership with eMudhra aligns with the national agenda to promote adoption of digital documents, reduce dependency on paper-based processes, and facilitate a more efficient, transparent, and secure digital economy. This collaboration aims to support the government’s long-term digitalization roadmap by enabling a secure digital documentation layer essential for e-government services, digital finance, and digital transformation.
By Sanath Nanayakkare
In a significant move to accelerate technological innovation in Sri Lanka, Dialog Axiata PLC, Sri Lanka’s #1 connectivity provider, and the Dialog-University of Moratuwa (UoM) Research Lab, has announced the release of SinhalaVITS, a state-of-the-art, open-source Text-to-Speech (TTS) model for the Sinhala language.
This non-commercial initiative delivers a powerful, high-quality, and natural-sounding Sinhala voice model to the public, making it freely accessible to developers, researchers, and students. The model is available for download on Hugging Face, the world’s largest open-source AI community, empowering anyone to build and experiment with advanced voice technology.
The SinhalaVITS model is the result of a deep-rooted collaboration that unites Dialog’s industry leadership with the academic excellence of the Dialog–UoM Mobile Communications Research Lab, fulfilling a vital need within Sri Lanka’s tech community for accessible, high-performance tools that drive innovation. By removing cost and licensing barriers tied to proprietary software, Dialog is empowering developers and researchers while fostering a more inclusive, collaborative, and future-ready AI ecosystem. This initiative further reinforces Dialog’s commitment to advancing Sri Lanka’s digital future—investing in open-source technology and academic partnerships to nurture local talent and lay the foundation for next-generation digital services built by Sri Lankans, for Sri Lankans.
The Hatton National Bank PLC (HNB PLC) commemorated raising LKR 10 bn with its first ever issuance of sustainable bonds by way of a market opening ceremony conducted on the trading floor of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) last week.
The 9th December issuance of 100 mn listed, rated, unsecured senior sustainable bonds, in five year and seven-year tenors, with a par value of LKR 100/- and rated “AA-(lka)” By Fitch Ratings Lanka Limited, was oversubscribed on the same day, raising LKR 10 bn.
Sustainable bonds, which were launched in Sri Lanka for the first time this year, are part of a series of GSS+ (Green, Social, Sustainable & Sustainability Linked) debt instruments. The proceeds of the sustainable bond issuance will be used by HNB PLC to fund the development and installation of solar, wind, biomass and hydropower projects, improve energy efficiency through retrofits, fund the construction of recognized ‘green’ buildings, fund investment infrastructure for water treatment, water conservation and efficient agricultural water technologies, finance housing development, healthcare and education for low- and middle-income families, promote women entrepreneurship, amongst others initiatives.
Damith Pallewatte, Managing Director and CEO of HNB PLC, who was the ceremony’s keynote speaker remarked upon the issuance of sustainable bonds commenting: “HNB’s LKR 10 bn sustainable bond issuance is a landmark step in advancing Sri Lanka’s sustainability agenda.”
Delivering his welcome address at the event, Rajeeva Bandaranaike, CEO of CSE, remarked upon rising corporate engagement in CSE’s GSS+ debt instruments stating: “HNB’s Sustainable Bond represents a welcome new addition to the list of leading Sri Lankan financial instruments that have set the example for the success of CSE’s GSS+ Bond framework which have allowed the capital market to operate as a financing vehicle for sustainable and socially equitable projects.”
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