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A milestone in industry – academia collaboration was reached recently when Teejay Lanka PLC extended its partnership with the University of Moratuwa for two more years, a period that will encompass the 10th anniversary of the relationship.
The decade-long collaboration between the Sri Lanka’s first multinational textile manufacturer and the country’s largest provider of manpower training for the textile and clothing industry has led to closer integration of curricula with industry needs and the growth of the annual Graduation Fashion Show of the University’s Department of Textile and Clothing Technology into a mega event. Notably, Teejay’s designers are all graduates of Fashion Design from the University of Moratuwa.
Under the terms of the extended Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations, Teejay will continue to provide industrial placements and fostering schemes for Fashion Design and Product Development and Textile Engineering students of the University, and facilitate short-term industry placements for foreign students affiliated to the University through academic linkage programmes.
Teejay will also provide knit fabric, yarn samples and hangers, free of charge, to the University of Moratuwa for education purposes. Additionally, as customary, the company will sponsor the Annual Graduation Fashion Show of the graduates of the Bachelor of Design in Fashion Design and Product Development. The event is a platform for batches of final-year students to showcase their innovative collections of apparel lines and win awards.
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EuroKitchens Trading & Contracting (Pvt) Ltd. (EKTC), Sri Lanka’s pioneering hospitality solutions provider, is experiencing a strong client-led growth, leading up to a doubling of its annual revenue for the second year in a row as it gears up to establish a stronger regional presence. The company –with its solutions currently being offered in Sri Lanka and the Maldives- attributes this significant increase in demand for its products to its decision to strengthen its workforce by prioritising the hiring of skilled employees and the up skilling of its existing staff.
This increased financial yield cements the company’s position as the market leader in providing only the finest commercial cooking systems and appliances, especially during economically challenging times. However, in holding firm to its commitment to providing clients with comprehensive and A-grade product solutions, EKTC –a subsidiary of PromoLanka Holdings- has taken the decision to invest heavily in its operations; namely the people who run them.
Aside from decidedly recruiting highly-skilled workers, the company has also taken several unconventional initiatives to improve the wellbeing and resourcefulness of its existing employees; be it through offering flexible work options to prioritise a healthy work-life balance, providing training workshops to fuel employee growth, or encouraging team-building exercises to foster a positive workplace culture. These employee-centred moves, the management says, have resulted in a high staff retention rate, leading in turn to an overall improvement in quality of products and services, and satisfied customers as a result.
“The decision we made to invest in employing more talented and passionate subject-matter experts has yielded evidently positive results, and has also contributed towards helping us in improving our processes, allowing us in turn to provide a better customer experience ” said Adil Mansoor, CEO of EKTC. “While we were already in a strategic position to weather the storms of the COVID pandemic and periods of economic instability, these new initiatives have further improved our product and services, and also enabled us to diversify our solutions offering further.”
“As a detail-oriented company, we have always prioritised our operations and processes,” said EKTC General Manager, Thushara Gunawardhana. “We currently work with the most up-to-date, internationally certified project management and design software, so as to ensure that we create only the best possible solutions for our growing client base.
“We also understand fully the market challenges with regards to shortages of manpower and rising costs, and our tailor-made solutions enable our clients to be better prepared to manage this,” he added. “We always take the more efficient and rational approach to driving long term sustainability for our clients.”
More recently, EKTC has broken into new verticals by expanding its portfolio to include industrial laundry solutions. Having laid the groundwork by working with suppliers and on boarding new technical hires, the company has already commenced providing this service to some of Sri Lanka’s largest players in the HORECA segment.As the exclusive distributor for some of the world’s #1 industrial kitchenware brands –namely RATIONAL (Germany), Turbo Air (USA), and Comenda (Italy)-, and supplier of many more internationally reputed names, at present, EKTC is working closely with the country’s leading supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, franchises, and even cloud kitchens, with plans for an even greater expansion of its client base currently underway. Additionally, having now firmly established its presence in Asia and the Middle East, the company is also looking at broadening its international footprint – already making inroads into its next phase of growth. (EKTC news release)
Against the backdrop of World Children’s Day being celebrated on Oct 1, Seylan Tikiri, minor savings brand from Seylan Bank has planned for an entire month’s worth of innovative and fun-filled offerings for the nation’s children. Now in its 10th consecutive year, Seylan Tikiri’s World Children’s Month campaign aims to offer special gifts for deposits made to existing and new Tikiri accounts during the promotional period running from Oct 1 to 31.
Given the ongoing effects of inflation, Seylan Bank has identified that many homes have taken to home gardening in an effort to cut down on the rising cost of living. Considering these factors, the incentives offered by Seylan Tikiri during this month seek to encourage the imagination and creativity of kids in a different way by unlocking the potential of their inner green thumbs.
To encourage this good habit, for every new deposit of Rs. 25,000/- to a new or existing Tikiri account, the account holder will be entitled to a home gardening pack with two essential tools, gloves, grow bags and seeds along with free entrance to the Tikiri Home Gardening Competition. This initiative will pave the way for kids up to the age of 12 years to win up to Rs. 500,000/- in prizes.
If a deposit of Rs. 100,000/- is made to a new account, the account holder will be entitled to the above mentioned gardening pack, along with slab based gift vouchers and an additional gift. Meanwhile, for every new deposit of LKR 5,000/- to existing or new accounts, the account holder will gain entrance to the Tikiri Home Gardening Competition only. Additionally, Seylan Tikiri has partnered with reputed merchants such as Atlas, CIB, Bata and Lumala to provide discount coupons to account holders.
Voicing his thoughts on these efforts conducted by Seylan Tikiri, Gamika De Silva, Assistant General Manager Sales and Marketing at Seylan Bank PLC said, “While others may dedicate only a day to commemorate World Children’s Day, we at Seylan Bank have been dedicating an entire month to the next generation of the nation for ten years and counting. This year, we seek to encourage children to engage in home gardening which will teach them the importance of making the best of any situation, while also serving as a bonding experience with their parents. We like to think that through our annual efforts, Seylan Bank stands as a gentle reminder to everyone to ensure that they are creating a better world for the next generation.”
BY S VENKAT NARAYAN Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, October 15: In 2020, Chinese auto and electronics major BYD, Apple’s largest contract manufacturer of iPads, was looking to shift some of its capacity from China to India. But the move was shelved after geopolitical tensions erupted between the two countries, and India introduced stiff foreign direct investment (FDI) rules for Chinese companies.Now, two years on, BYD has just started rolling out iPads from Vietnam. It has invested $268 million to set up a new factory with a capacity to churn out 4.33 million tablets a year.
Vietnam’s gain is India’s loss. The two Asian countries have been aggressively wooing global companies and their suppliers to shift from China. Growing US-China geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions due to sudden closures of factories to combat Covid-19 have impelled many tech players to explore other investment destinations.
India has grabbed one jewel in the crown — Apple Inc. Its vendor Foxconn recently started assembling the latest iPhone 14 within a few days of its global launch. And if everything goes according to script under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, India will account for 12 per cent of the global production value of iPhones, which could go up to 20 per cent by FY26.
The PLI scheme, meant primarily to reduce the cost disadvantage between India and Vietnam for making mobiles, offers an incentive of 4-6 per cent on the production value for five years. But sources in the know clarify that Apple Inc is not shifting manufacture of its AirPods to India.All in all, though, Vietnam is way ahead in the game. Apart from grabbing iPads, The New York Times reported that Google is also shifting the assembly of its latest Pixel 7 mobile phones to Vietnam from China. Reports had said India was also in the reckoning.
Hanoi has also bagged Chinese mobile player Xiaomi, which is contract-manufacturing phones with Chinese DBG in Vietnam for exports to Thailand and Malaysia. Microsoft is manufacturing Xbox consoles there. In the non-electronics space, toy maker Lego, which was scouting for a factory to cater to growing Asian demand (it has a factory in China), opted for Vietnam recently where it has committed an investment of $1 billion.
Vietnam’s crowning glory has been Samsung. Since 2008, the Korean chaebol has invested a staggering $19 billion in the country shifting mobile capacity from China. It recently announced an additional $3.3 billion for semiconductors. As much as 50 per cent of its phones are made in Vietnam and 2021 annual exports were $65.5 billion (three times what Apple promised to manufacture in India in FY26).The new battleground for the two countries is in PCs, laptops and tablets as global brands look to hedge against their over-dependence on China: 75 per cent of all laptops are made in that country.
Vietnam’s share in this space might be just 2 per cent (contract-manufacturing for Dell, Amazon and Google, say reports) but it is furiously licensing contract manufacturers to create capacity and become a hub for the world here, too.To this end, Hanoi has signed an agreement with Foxconn recently to invest $300 million to assemble laptops and tablets, and has given permission to Wistron last year to make computers and peripherals. Nikkei reports that Microsoft might start producing its Surface line, including notebooks and desktops computers.
India’s answer to woo laptop (the bulk of which are imported from China), PC and tablet makers has been through a Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for IT products, which has failed to take off. Only around four of the 14 eligible players, domestic and global, have succeeded in meeting their production targets, and they say incentives (an average of 2 per cent) are too low and only for four years.
The electronics ministry is now reworking the plan to cater better to the requirements of global players, who have shown interest in shifting capacity from China if the incentives are attractive enough.Yet the big challenge that India faces — which Vietnam does not — is in setting up a supply chain, which both in mobile and IT products is dominated by Chinese manufacturers. But India’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy has effectively barred them through the automatic approval route, meaning Chinese investment proposals require government scrutiny. Even then, few have been granted permission over the past two years.
For instance, 10 per cent of Apple’s top 200 vendors are based in Vietnam but the bulk of them are from China. In India, Apple has around 12 global suppliers but only three of them are Chinese firms who entered before the FDI restrictions were imposed. As companies like Apple take a big jump in production from this year, higher value addition is possible only if their Chinese vendors are allowed in. India wants value addition upped from 15-20 per cent to 35 per cent in the next four years. Hanoi imposes no such restrictions; locational proximity enhances its attractiveness.
Vietnam has two other key advantages — far lower input tariffs than India, and the ability to leverage its plethora of free trade agreements (FTAs) that allow zero duty entry for exports.A preliminary study being undertaken by global companies points out that average most favoured nation tariffs for mobile phones and its supply chain and selected electronics products for 122 products is at around 9.9 per cent in India compared to 5.7 per cent in Vietnam.
The other problem, say companies, is that unlike Vietnam there is constant fear of differing interpretations and wrong classifications, with the revenue department suddenly raising demands or even accusing global players of round tripping. “There is no pre-consultation and advance authorisation like in Vietnam. Once demands have been made, the only way out is litigation,” said a senior executive of a global electronics company.
Critically, Vietnam has also leveraged its FTAs with over 56 economies that have helped suppress tariff barriers and make it a potential supply chain strategic hub. For instance, its recent FTA with the European Union has lifted tariffs on 85 per cent of Vietnamese goods. India, meanwhile, has abstained from the most consequential of FTAs — the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Of course, India has the advantage of an abundance of skilled labour available at still lower wages. Vietnam’s wage for workers is half of that of China, where rising wages have become a barrier to investment. But India’s worker wages are still a third of that of China, says an executive of a contract manufacturing company. That apart, Vietnam’s much smaller population has a limited number of skilled workers.But most global players say that this one advantage is not enough. Vietnam has much more flexible labour laws that partly neutralise the advantage. Clearly, India will need much more than cheap labour to leverage global corporations’ China Plus-One strategy.
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