From the results which are visible in terms of the resurgence of the economy, the Sri Lankan government has the right directional policies, Yezdi Nagporewalla, CEO of KPMG India said.
As a professional service firm both KPMG India and Sri Lanka can make a difference by delivering dedicated customized services which would drive sustainable growth in Sri Lanka particularly in areas of digital transformation or advanced technology implementation, which includes AI and analytics, he said.
Emphasizing that KPMG is very sensitive to the emerging trends in the global market and embarks on various initiatives to incubate them he opined, “a couple of the trends revolve around technology and AI and this is something that KPMG is incubating and is known for globally. The other emerging trend is the focus on sustainability. Which is something again that we specialize in,” he said.
Nagporewalla said KPMG India has a long history of working with the Government of India on certain key initiatives such as the ease of doing business where the company has worked with the Indian Government in driving its business reform programs. This has also resulted in India’s ease of doing business index moving up by 67 points in World Bank ratings. Another example of working with the government is getting involved with Startup India program which is perhaps India’s flagship program where the needle was moved from 300 startups in 2014 to 130,000 startups in the current year.
KPMG India has been instrumental in the launch of this program in 2016 which includes all the initiatives including the award initiatives and other programs around the portal. He said the textile sector which is very relevant from a Sri Lankan perspective is another area that KPMG India has worked with across stakeholders which includes the government, industry players across the value chain, investors and industry bodies. “So, this is the experience that we already have with the Indian Government, ” he said.
“Whether it is heritage or culture, India and Sri Lanka share a lot of commonalities. And in many ways, we feel at home in Sri Lanka. We are also very optimistic of the Sri Lankan economy. It is a good time to be here and for us, it is an annual event and we look forward to a vibrant location like Colombo,” Nagporewalla added.
