Business
Seylan Bank hosts webinar for SMEs on taxation and benefits
Ranil Dissanayake- Assistant General Manager – Branch Credit – Seylan Bank
Seylan Bank, the Bank with a Heart, recently hosted its latest webinar for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) titled, “Taxation for SMEs and Reliefs Offered during COVID-19 Period”. Always focused on SMEs and with the wellbeing of the ‘backbone of the economy at heart, Seylan Bank continues to add value to the industry with this webinar, with an aim to support growth and provide holistic solutions for these businesses by enhancing their knowledge.
The seminar, conducted by Deepani Herath, Senior Consultant on Tax Services to Price Water House Coopers and former Deputy Commissioner General of the Inland Revenue Department, focused on educating SME customers on the importance of meeting tax obligations and assisting them in ascertaining their tax dues. It explained the provisions for relief within the system, enabling them to make use of tax reductions made possible by the authorities. Participating SMEs were also educated on the concessions provided to businesses in light of COVID-19, enhancing their understanding of tax liabilities and tax assessment, options to extend the period of payment for tax arrears and the extension of bank guarantees and non-refundable deposits. The session also covered maintaining the accuracy of financial statements, VAT compliance and other related areas.
Deepani Herath is a lecturer at the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the University of Colombo and has lectured at Sri Jayawardanapura University, Sri Lanka Institute of Taxation and the Association of Accounting Technicians Sri Lanka. She holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Colombo and a BA in Economics with a First Class from the University of Sri Jayawardanapura. Ms Herath contributed in preparing “Sri Lanka Tax Cases Volume IV”, and “Manual of Income Tax law 2000/2001.2001/2002,2002/2003”.
“As a Bank that expanded to the outskirts of the country from its inception to support the small and medium scale entrepreneurs building businesses from the ground up, Seylan Bank has always been aggressive in its support of SMEs. As the Bank with a Heart, we are driven by a desire to share knowledge and enable businesses to transform. With current market dynamics, we decided to conduct this webinar to help SMEs understand their tax obligations and legitimate ways of reducing their tax liability so that they can succeed and contribute to the success of the nation.” said Ranil Dissanayake, Assistant General Manager – Branch Credit at Seylan Bank, explaining the bank’s commitment to small and medium enterprises.
Small and Medium Enterprises form the largest component of the formal economy and were some of the most affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic fallout from it. However, they have also remained the most resilient and entrepreneurial in the face of adversity. The bank with a gamut of financial services, regional SME Hubs to expedite facility approvals and dedicated ‘SME Relationship Officers’ to support businesses not just in acquiring funds, but in managing and utilising them optimally, is fully geared to support this vital sector of the economy.
Seylan Bank, the Bank with a Heart, operates with a vision to offer the ultimate banking experience to its valued customers through cutting-edge technology, innovative products, and best-in-class service. The Bank has a growing clientele of SMEs, Retail and Corporate Customers and has expanded its footprint with 172 branches across the country, 216 ATM units, 70 Cash Deposit Machines (CDM) and 83 Cheque Deposit Kiosks (CDK). Seylan Bank has been endorsed as a financially stable organisation with performance excellence across the board by Fitch Ratings, with the bank’s national long-term rating revised upward, from ‘A-(lka)’ to ‘A (lka)’. The bank was ranked second among public listed companies for transparency in corporate reporting by Transparency Global. Seylan Bank has also been named the Most Popular Banking Service Provider in Sri Lanka in Customer Experience by LMD consecutively in 2019 and 2020. These achievements are a testament to Seylan Bank’s financial stability and unwavering dedication to ensuring excellence across all endeavours.
By Hiran H Senewiratne
CSE trading kicked off on a positive note yesterday but the momentum could not be sustained for long owing to investor worries that the government is planning domestic debt restructuring involving the imposition of a wealth and heritage tax on citizens, market sources said.
Amid those developments both indices moved downwards. The All -Share Price Index went down by 131 points and S and P SL-20 declined by 46.8 points. Turnover stood at Rs 3.4 billion with four crossings. Those crossings were reported in Agalawattte Plantations, which crossed 45.3 million shares to the tune of Rs 1.5 billion, its shares traded at Rs 35, CTC 420,000 shares crossed for Rs 269 million and its shares traded at Rs 640, Cargills 100,000 shares crossed to the tune of Rs 24.5 million; its shares traded at Rs 245 and Hayleys 300,000 shares crossed for Rs 24 million; its shares traded at Rs 80.
In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, SLT Rs 234 million (two million shares traded), Hayleys RS 121 million (1.5 million shares traded), Lanka IOC Rs 106 million (115,000 shares traded), Softlogic Capital Rs 69 million (5.6 million shares traded), CTC Rs 65.3 million (101,000 shares traded), Sampath Bank RS 54.7 million (one million shares traded) and Commercial Bank RS 52.5 million (801,000 shares traded).During the day 164 million share volumes changed hands in 20000 transactions.
Business
Brandix ‘RightToRead’ initiative gains momentum enriching Sri Lanka students and transforming learning
Inspired by the challenge to provide Sri Lankan children with better access to learning materials and the transformative power to read and comprehend English, Brandix launched the ‘RightToRead’ project in 2018 in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.
Accordingly, Brandix introduced the ‘ReadToMe’ English learning tool, created by English Helper – India, to improve reading and comprehension skills of Sri Lankan students. Last Monday, Julie Chung, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, visited Susamayawardhana Vidyalaya in Borella, to observe progress of the project and experience how children and educators in Sri Lanka engage with educational technology.
Brandix Lanka Limited, Director, Ajit Johnpillai, said: “Education is the most powerful tool to enrich communities and futures, and Brandix is committed to build a strong foundation for transformational learning for students across Sri Lanka. The progress we have made with RiteToRead over the past two years is promising, and the potential for change in the education sector harnessing such digital technologies is immeasurable. Brandix will continue its commitment to deliver Inspired Solutions for the people of Sri Lanka.”
Hytera, a leading global provider of professional communications technologies and solutions, is proud to announce the successful deployment of a new backup satellite station for Dialog TV, Sri Lanka’s No.1 satellite Pay TV service provider. The project was fulfilled in 2022 by Hytera and its subsidiary specialized in Satellite Communications (SatCom), Norsat International Inc. The new station enhances the resilience and capacity of Dialog TV’s existing system and ensures continuity of service in the event of damage due to natural disasters.
Dialog TV provides coverage over the entirety of Sri Lanka through the Intelsat 38 Ku-band satellite. As the business expanded, it opted for a backup solution to support its existing satellite station and to strengthen the network’s disaster tolerance.
Hytera and Norsat provided an end-to-end satellite earth station solution that includes the installation, integration, and setup of satellite antennas, a transmission and receiving system, a new network management system (NMS), and a carrier monitoring system (CMS). The NMS makes routine work easier and simpler for on-duty staff, as equipment status, parameter monitoring and configuration, and remote control of the devices can be viewed and accomplished via a single interface. The CMS monitors the carrier spectrum status of satellite signals in real-time and ensures stable signal transmission and receiving.
“We are excited to have been able to work with Dialog TV on this important project,” said Kevin Sun, Sales Director for Hytera South Asia, “Our ability to seamlessly integrate our new equipment and software with Dialog TV’s existing systems has helped to ensure a stable and reliable service for their millions of customers across Sri Lanka.”
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