“Mere 1% Indian infusion to CSE can colossally increase local capitalization”
Chennai: Compared to the nearly USD 3 Trillion Market in India to the USD 15 billion Market in Sri Lanka, a mere 1% investment of Indian Market into Colombo Stock Market (CSE) would create multiple times increase in local Market capitalization.
This was opined by Group Chairman of almas Holdings Imtiaz Buhardeen, to Daily News Business on the sideline of the Sri Lanka Invest Forum, in Chennai last week. almas Holdings was also the ‘Gold’ sponsor of the India Investment forum hlled in Chennai and Mumbai which was attended by Sri Lankan parliamentarians, Regulator, CSE, brokering firms, the Indian Chamber of Industries and many current and would-be investors.
“Indian business community considers the current Sri Lankan market to India a decade ago. Sri Lanka needs to think outside the box and consider new investment instruments to attract a large foreign investor base to take the market to higher levels than waiting for the market to go to higher levels to bring new products mimicking a chicken and egg situation that needs to be addressed now.”
India is also going through a period of significant economic growth. “Many Indian businessmen were truly happy with the way India came forward to assist Sri Lanka in times of dire need and even happier for the speedy recovery of Sri Lankan macroeconomic indicators.”
Chennai being within one and half hour flight, visiting Colombo has become a bustling word among many Indian businessmen and they also see many similarities between India and Sri Lanka in culture, values, and historical relations dating thousands of years. However, according to the Indian business community, to invest in Sri Lanka and in CSE, they seek more clarity. Buhardeen said that already some formed Indian brands have brought large Indian investments to Sri Lanka in sectors such as ports, energy as FDI.
“Some very large projects such as pipeline between India and Sri Lanka, export of renewable energy to India, grid connectivity etc are in the discussion level.I’m optimistic that these will be followed by both governments soon and will take off the ground. Therefore we are confident that an exciting time is ahead with many potential wins to early entrants.”
He mentioned that almas too is looking at collaboration with Indian Business leaders and brands, particularly given the scale of developments currently taking place with and strong cooperation between the two countries. Among solutions suggested by the Indian business community and former Senior Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) officials are as follows.
1. Create a more efficient Inward Investment Account opening process such as enabling broker firms to coordinate with banks to open IIA accounts for foreign investors. 2. Promoting on arrival visas for Indian investors and travelers 3. Expediting Demutualization of the Stock Exchange to overcome the perceived Conflict of Interest where (Regulator appointing directors to the board of Stock exchange to manage CSE while regulating the same (Regulator being part of the Regulated) -Broker firms appointing directors to the board of the Stock Exchange (Licensees being part of the management of the Exchange) 4. Clarifying current standing of existing Bilateral agreements with stance to be adopted in future
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