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LOLC Join Hands With LIOC to boost rural reach. LOLC CEO & Group Managing Director, Kapila Jayawardena, and LION Managing Director, K. Ramakrishnan, exchange agreements. Pic by Nissanka Wijerathna

Rural Sri Lanka is the next step, or, growth opportunity for the country’s financial services sector, and this week Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC) took a progressive step towards increasing its presence in the periphery through a unique partnership with the Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC).

Financial solutions provider, LOLC, will set up service centres at all of LIOC’s 153 filling stations island wide.

According to Kapila Jayawardena, CEO and Group Managing Director LOLC, this is the first time a financial services provider has entered into such an agreement with an oil company. “This agreement would improve LOLC’s reach and enhance development opportunity in rural areas,” he said. It would bring both companies closer to the hearts of people, he added.

LOLC’s new business strategy requires the company to increase its geographic reach significantly, but within cost-efficient distribution channels. LIOC through its already established outlet base would provide the financier with the necessary reach and strategic locations within townships to set up office. LOLC is keen to assist in the development of agri-based economies and is confident that this partnership would provide the necessary breakthroughs into rural farmer communities.
K. Ramakrishnan, Managing Director of LIOC, remarked that his company was pleased to be part of an effort to take development finance to the rural masses. Modernised fuel outlets, which were first introduced to the country by LIOC, have added significant value to the market, Ramakrishnan stated. Such tie-ups would give rural communities easy access to basic services, he said, adding that LIOC would look to offer a multitude of services through its stations in the future. “We are proud of what we have done, and we have always done the best possible despite the financial constraints that were placed up on us,” said Ramakrishnan, referring to the subsidy issue that dogged the company late last year.

A subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company, the LIOC head hopes that Sri Lanka would open up its economy and encourage further foreign participation to boost development prospects.

Addressing journalists on Monday, LOLC’s Deputy Chairman, Ishara Nanayakkara, said his company would focus heavily on agro and micro finance, which he identified as “a need of the hour”. He stated that the small and medium sectors did not have access to mainstream finance, which in turn hampered business objectives and economic growth.

Nanayakkara said that LOLC gave opportunity to the rural masses through its leasing products, and stated that the company has thus been practicing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) long before it became a buzz word. LOLC has developed a strong understanding of operations in rural areas since 2003, and have developed several business models to offer financial services to the masses lacking regular banking facilities, he said.

LOLC’s full array of financial services solutions would be available at its new outlet base. These include savings and fixed deposits, insurance, stock brokering, factoring, auto finance, micro finance, pawning and fleet management. With LIOC’s outlet based dispersed in all regions of the country, LOLC has the opportunity to reach out to the grassroots and play a more active role in rural development.