‘Modi phobia’ hits Sri Lanka’s business community
‘Modi phobia’ – coined locally to relate to India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi- appears to be spreading among the Sri Lankan business community. At the launch of the National Business Excellence Awards 2014 (NBEA), held in Colombo this week, Sunil Wijesinha, President, The National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL), said that the recent regime change in India with Narendra Modi ushered as the Prime Minister would impact on Sri Lankan exports which would face tough competition in the world market
He cautioned the Sri Lankan export industrialists, “Gujarat has no power cuts, while the rest of India would be subject to frequent power cuts and this state has many Public Private Partnerships. The economic growth there is very rapid and if the Gujarat model is replicated in the rest of India, the whole of that country would be up for huge growth.”
Therefore, Mr. Wijesinha pointed out that India competing with Sri Lankan exports would be a challenge, but he said with this growth there could also have opportunities for Sri Lankan products as the Indian market is huge. Thus, he said, the way to meet this impending challenge is to improve the competitiveness of the Sri Lankan export oriented products.
“Whatever the circumstances, we have to improve our competitiveness all round and if we do not adjust that standard of competitiveness we would face unwanted challenges,” he added.
Responding to a query from a journalist, Mr. Wijesinha said that while the biggest issue would be the competition for FDIs because the Indian market is huge, there are very good organisations with excellence.
He also explained the stringent evaluation process to select the winners of NBEA 2014 which would take place on 15 December 2014.