News & market updates

Emirates' A380 is the first aircraft fitted with next‑generation Starlink Wi‑Fi — three antennas delivering more than 2 Gbps of total aircraft bandwidth — and Emirates will accelerate installations across its fleet through 2026.

Activ8 Asia was awarded Platinum Excellence in Business Process Outsourcing & Customer Experience Solutions in 2026 at City of Dreams, Cinnamon Life, Colombo. The award highlights its new CRM solution that reduces CRM tagging and administrative time for outbound call agents to boost productivity and service quality.

Ten Sri Lanka ICT companies generated an estimated USD 2.0 million in future business prospects and over 300 leads at Japan IT Week Spring 2026, the Export Development Board said. The EDB, with JICA and the Sri Lanka embassy, facilitated briefings, site visits and networking to boost Sri Lanka–Japan ICT collaboration.

Visa appointed Suresh Sethi as Group Country Manager for India and South Asia, responsible for strategy and operations across India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh and will report to the Regional President, Asia Pacific.

Infinix unveiled the NOTE 60 Series in Colombo, introducing an AI Matrix Display and Snapdragon-powered 5G performance. The series, launched with partners including Qualcomm and JBL, is now available nationwide across retail and online channels.

Softlogic Life has partnered with Dialog Axiata's Doc990 to introduce a fully cashless, real-time OPD claims facility for its corporate health and life insurance clients, with eligible users receiving a 35% discount on Doc990 channeling fees. Claims are processed instantly at point of care, removing reimbursement paperwork and upfront payments.

Deloitte Sri Lanka urged IT and knowledge-sector firms to treat transfer pricing as a strategic tool, aligning intercompany pricing with value creation amid regulatory shifts and the IRD's APA framework. It recommended robust FAR/DEMPE documentation and use of APAs to reduce audit risk.

China's Global Security Initiative (GSI), proposed in 2022, has been cited in over 140 international documents and endorsed by more than 130 countries by 2026, highlighting priorities such as information/cyber security, AI governance and bio-security. It calls for strengthening the UN's role, peaceful settlement and multilateral cooperation among its 20 listed priorities.

Samsung Sri Lanka launched the Galaxy A57 5G and Galaxy A37 5G, featuring One UI 8.5 with Awesome Intelligence AI, 50MP triple cameras, IP68 durability and up to a 5,000mAh battery (A57); offerings include two-year screen/back glass replacement and Samsung Easy Pay instalments.

A delegation of 10 Sri Lankan ICT companies, supported by the Export Development Board, JICA and the Sri Lankan Embassy, completed participation at Japan IT Week Spring 2026, generating 300+ leads, 100+ business meetings and potential future business estimated at over USD 2.0 million. The program included briefings, site visits and targeted B2B matchmaking to support market entry into Japan.

Deloitte told SLASSCOM members that Sri Lanka’s Knowledge & Innovation (IT) sector must strengthen transfer pricing policies and documentation as scrutiny rises following the Inland Revenue’s January 2025 APA framework and the transition away from tax holidays, to ensure arm’s-length outcomes and support export earnings.

The Asian Development Bank estimates Sri Lanka has about $6 billion of unrealised export capacity — exports could rise 47% if gaps are addressed — and says weak export growth has widened the trade deficit and pressured the rupee ahead of rising external debt repayments. Usable reserves cover roughly three months of goods imports, limiting the Central Bank's ability to defend the currency.

Meta will cut about 10% of its workforce (just under 8,000 employees) and close ~6,000 open roles; Microsoft is offering voluntary retirement packages to roughly 7% of its US workforce (~8,750) as both increase AI investments and cite productivity gains.

ESMA chair Verena Ross warned cyber risks are growing and that AI could speed up attacks, saying regulators are contacting financial entities to assess their defences. ESMA and other EU regulators have named 19 critical third-party tech providers under new resilience rules and may expand oversight to AI vendors.

The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court made permanent its conditional order against two accused in the first-ever case filed under Sri Lanka’s Online Safety Act. The court removed the conditional order against four other accused and concluded proceedings in the matter.

Sri Lanka's Treasury says a $2.5m payment to Export Finance Australia was diverted in a cyber breach uncovered during the transfer of debt operations from the Central Bank to the Treasury; officials say debt servicing is not at risk and investigations are ongoing.

Sri Lanka Police warn of a new scam using .apk files sent via WhatsApp/Telegram that install malware to control phones and intercept SMS OTPs, risking bank accounts; public told to avoid unknown APKs, use official app stores, disable 'Install Unknown Apps' and report incidents to police/CCID.

IN10NT Digital has launched Island Impact, a digital branding initiative to reposition Sri Lanka in the global tourism market as arrivals topped 2.3 million in 2025. The program offers complimentary digital brand audits for tourism SMEs and focuses on data-led audience strategy, performance marketing and creator storytelling.

Dialog Axiata PLC appointed Arjuna Herath as Independent Non-Executive Director, effective 1 May 2026. He brings experience in consulting, corporate finance and regulatory governance, including roles at the Board of Investment, the Sri Lanka Data Protection Authority, EY and the Colombo Stock Exchange.

Sri Lanka's cumulative exports for Jan–Mar 2026 reached US$ 4,308.11 million, up 1.59% year-on-year. March exports were US$ 1,467.31 million (down 5.2% YoY but up 9.0% month-on-month), with strength in coconut, processed food, electronics and services while apparel and tea declined.

Dialog Axiata's corporate arm Dialog Enterprise has partnered with Star Garments to deploy 5G-powered IIoT and smart factory solutions across the garment maker's operations to improve efficiency, automation and real-time decision-making.

The EPF's listed equity portfolio rose 27% to Rs. 188.85 billion at end-2025. The fund cut holdings from 65 to 59, fully exited six counters (Cargills Bank, Ceylon Hotels, Colombo Dockyard, Jetwing Symphony, LAUGFS Gas, Sierra Cables) and added Hemas (40m shares); gains were led by banks and diversified stocks.

Dialog Axiata PLC has partnered with OREL Corporation to integrate the Dialog Play Smart TV app into OREL smart TVs and roll out co-branded smart home devices starting with smart power strips. The collaboration aims to combine OREL's device manufacturing with Dialog's digital platforms to expand Sri Lanka's smart ecosystem.

VentureTECH has made a strategic investment in Sri Lankan‑founded cybersecurity firm DeltaSpike to fund AI/ML-driven platform enhancements, expand Managed Detection and Response and VAPT services, and scale its Security Operations Centres across Southeast and South Asia.

The Central Bank's Annual Economic Review 2025 reports real GDP growth of 5% and continued macroeconomic stabilization, with a third consecutive current-account surplus and reserve build-up. Monetary policy remained accommodative supporting low interest rates, credit expansion and improved bank/non-bank profitability, while exchange-rate flexibility and easing capital controls were noted.

Asian markets rallied on April 20, 2026, as an AI-led upturn and improving hopes for peace in the Middle East lifted key indices, erasing conflict-related losses and pushing several benchmarks toward record highs. Investors remain lightly positioned with subdued trading volumes amid rapidly changing headlines.

Heads of Multilateral Development Banks agreed to deepen cooperation to provide timely support to countries amid global uncertainty, prioritising mobilisation of private finance, scaling local-currency financing, and joint initiatives on critical minerals, water infrastructure and AI.

99x presented insights at the SLASSCOM Women in Tech Conference 4.0, highlighting inclusion and its five-year 99x Academy Scholarship Program as a pathway to accelerate women into tech roles. Speakers emphasised balancing high performance with wellbeing to build leadership readiness in the industry.

Motadata deployed its Unified Observability and ServiceOps platform at the British School of Colombo, providing real-time visibility, AI-driven anomaly detection, and centralized ITSM to reduce outages and speed incident resolution.

Aventude won the Information Management – Computer Software award at the Singapore Business Review Technology Excellence Awards 2026 for its engineering of Norway’s public-sector Compose low-code platform, now used by government agencies, utilities and housing organisations nationwide.