A market brief each morning, plus company filings and news from across Sri Lanka's stock market. Filter by company, sector and theme, and use sentiment badges to quickly identify Positive or Negative news.
Sri Lanka's Ambassador to ESCAP, H.E. Wijayanthi Edirisinghe, reaffirmed at the 5th Session of ESCAP's ICT Committee (2-4 Sept 2026) Sri Lanka's commitment to an inclusive, secure, people-centred digital transformation, citing the Digital Economy Strategy 2025-2030 and support for Digital Public Infrastructure and the APIS Action Plan 2027-2030.
Deputy Minister Chathuranga Abeysinghe rejected claims that tax terms at the Colombo Port City SEZ were being arbitrarily changed, saying about 90 applications were held pending a legal amendment and that the revised law taxes individuals under the Inland Revenue Act; he later apologised for confusion and said clarity on foreign‑income taxation for approved persons will be provided.
A CVCD conference in Colombo (Sept 4) presented the UGC-approved National AI Policy Framework and a 2026-29 implementation plan to drive responsible AI and digital transformation across state universities. Universities were asked to adopt institutional AI policies and SOPs by Dec 31, 2026; Dialog Axiata's Chief AI Officer took part in the panel.
IT & Digital
Daily FT·Sep 5, 2026·Regulatory or legal·SLTLPositive
Government ruled out sale of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT-Mobitel) and will retain it as a strategic state asset; the group reported PAT up 54.4% to Rs.6.6 billion and Q2 PBT up 55.8% to Rs.3.1 billion, and plans further 5G and coverage investments.
Frontier Research warns cheaper AI-generated code could erode the value of Sri Lanka's ICT and BPM exports, which earned $150.49m in June (up 11.31% YoY). It says a government AI data centre initiative could open a new foreign-exchange channel and AI may help offset long-term labour constraints.
The Ministerial Consultative Committee reviewed measures to combat cybercrime, including blocking illegal gambling websites, legal action and deportation of foreign nationals involved, recruiting software engineers and lawyers, and plans for centralized real-time investigation systems and improved crypto-related data sharing.
Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya will deliver the keynote at a SLEIS 2026 session titled "Nation Building in the Digital Age" on 13 Oct 2026, focusing on how AI, digital transformation and education can drive productivity and economic growth. The panel will include government, academia and industry representatives.
EY GDS Sri Lanka inaugurated a new office on Level 22 of the World Trade Center East Tower on 1 Sept 2026, adding capacity for 110 workstations and expanding its Colombo footprint to three floors alongside a refurbished cybersecurity centre as it targets doubling headcount by 2027.
SLIIT director Dr. Dilan Fernando argues universities must partner with industry to turn students into resilient, technology-enabled and export-capable entrepreneurs, citing the National SME Strategy (SME NEXUS) which aims to raise SME contribution to GDP from 52% to 80%.
Gartner placed Huawei in the Leaders quadrant of its 2026 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Storage Platforms, highlighting Huawei OceanStor's AI data platform, capacity density and energy efficiency for enterprise use cases globally.
The Sri Lankan government has empowered the Securities and Exchange Commission to be the official regulator for virtual assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers, aiming to formalize crypto oversight and align VASPs with AML standards. The legislation still needs drafting and passage, with licensing timelines and compliance details to be defined.
The government will expand the national e-procurement platform Promise.lk in 2027 to support national and international competitive bidding; the platform has handled Rs41.94bn of e-procurements since 2020. Vendor registration fees will be waived from September to broaden supplier participation.
The Cabinet approved regulations designating 68 businesses operating in Colombo Port City as secondary businesses of strategic importance. The regulations were published in an Extraordinary Gazette on 10 April 2026 and will be submitted to Parliament under the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Act No. 11 of 2021; the firms include operators in IT, consultancy, BPO, logistics and infrastructure.
IT & Digital
Ada Derana·Sep 2, 2026·Promotional / marketing·DIALPositive
Dialog Axiata PLC marked its 20th consecutive year sponsoring the Kandy Esala Perahera (held 18-28 Aug 2026), supporting the festival's presentation. The company also highlighted broader heritage projects including temple restorations and a temple website/directory.
Sri Lankan-founded AI startup The Emotion AI has been accepted into NVIDIA Inception; its Viral Sense platform scores advertising creative against region-specific benchmarks and will use NVIDIA tooling to speed video analysis and model training. The platform is most used in Sri Lanka, operates across five markets and supports English, Sinhala, Tamil, Bahasa and Arabic.
A 'Bridging Markets' seminar in Colombo on 19 Aug 2026 brought over 100 Sri Lankan exporters from apparel, handicrafts, ICT, boat building, gems, food and tea together with Hong Kong trade bodies (HKETO, InvestHK, HKTDC) and the EDB to explore trade, investment facilitation and international market expansion.
Xapi launched a 160-page PDPA Compliance Playbook to help Sri Lankan public and private organisations implement the Personal Data Protection Act ahead of core provisions taking effect on 1 January 2027. The guide includes a six-layer implementation framework, a four-level maturity model, a case study and PDPA gap/readiness audit tools.
Government and industry launched the inaugural Sri Lanka FinTech Festival 2026 to leverage the country's digital-payment infrastructure and boost FinTech innovation, investment and international connectivity; the two-day event is scheduled for 2-3 November at Shangri-La Colombo. Organisers aim to connect regulators, banks, FinTech firms and international partners to translate payment rails into broader economic value while emphasising trust, security and regulatory engagement.
Sri Lanka and Hong Kong held the "Bridging Markets" seminar and networking dinner on 19 Aug 2026 in Colombo, bringing together 100+ Sri Lankan exporters to explore trade and investment opportunities. Organised by HKETO, InvestHK and HKTDC with the EDB and NCCSL, the event targeted sectors including apparel, ICT/software, gems, food and tea and highlighted Hong Kong's role as a gateway to Mainland China.
GovPay transactions have surpassed Rs. 5 billion, with more than 300 government institutions now connected to the digital payments platform, the Digital Economy Ministry said.
IT & Digital
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