Why Sri Lankan Electrical & Electronic Products?

Sri Lanka is an attractive, fast growing, single-point destination in the South Asian region for sourcing of Quality, Dependable and Economical solutions for Electronic and Electrical products and service needs of global brands.

Design to Delivery Destination

The inherent uniqueness of the Sri Lankan Electrical and Electronics industry is its ability to provide end-to-end delivery of products and services. Sri Lanka possesses a large, resourceful knowledge base amongst the technology centric academia. Therefore, idea generation, research backed innovations and design capability are omnipresent within the country's Electronic and Electrical sector. The ability to give life to these ideas through a seamlessly integrated manufacturing and service delivery process, gives Sri Lanka a competitive edge. Currently the EE sector is on an upward trajectory exhibiting great potential for specialized end to end delivery of exceptional quality.

Small - Medium global market niche and industry flexibility

Excellent reputation for product and service delivery within the small-medium global market niche, has been a hallmark of the local Electronic and Electrical sector. Sri Lankan exporters in the Electronic and Electrical sector are renowned for their flexibility in accommodating dynamic and challenging buyer requirements, yet being able to deliver quality, affordability coupled up with the technological expertise and exceptional customer service which has been a key competitive differentiator.

An integral component of export-led growth

The Electronic and Electrical sector has been identified and recognized as a sector that has great potential to make significant socio economic contributions to Sri Lanka through export-led growth. It thus receives the attention, facilitations, and enablement from the state, respective agencies and other stakeholder groups to ensure that the aspired end objectives are achieved. The industry is focused on becoming an emerging leader in the electrical and electronic manufacturing sector to meet Sri Lanka’s needs and export to the global market.

Innovation & disruption capability

Electronics is a highly dynamic, globalized industry in which change is a constant; adaptations and upgrades continue to be key enablers and disruptors for the industry. Many trends that evolve from the Electronic and Electrical sector are linked closely with the software and hardware industry. Thus, with the emergence of a dynamic, rapidly growing software and hardware sector in Sri Lanka is immensely beneficial. This presents a unique value proposition to buyers, and includes innovation and disruption capability.

Knowledge base and skilled middle tier technology workforce

Renowned for the high standards of education, the higher education and vocational institutes of the country, Sri Lanka continuously produces cohorts of highly skilled technological and engineering professionals specialized in various domains of electronics and electrical industry sectors, that join the country’s workforce every year. The Electronic and Electrical sector in Sri Lanka boasts of scores of readily available, skilled middle tier technology workforce and intelligent and trainable labour.

Cost advantages and affordability

In an industry where frequent shifts of supply bases become impractical and non-viable, cost advantages and affordability are key determining factors for global importers and buyers of Electronic and Electricals products and services in effecting such change. Possessing large cohorts of skilled, middle tier technology workforce, along with intelligent, trainable, and economical labour, Sri Lanka in comparison to other countries in the region offers an impactful value addition to global buyers.

Enablers and Preferential Market Access

Creating preferential access to global markets, Sri Lankan exporters of Electronic and Electrical products and services benefit from a host of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, including the Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement, Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement and South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA). The Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) scheme facilitates preferential access to the EU. In its endeavour to grow export revenues from the Electronic and Electrical sector, many tax incentives schemes and tax holidays have been introduced by the government. Export processing zones that have been established in many parts of the country provides hassle free manufacturing and processing infrastructure.

Quality and Genuity

Incomparable flexibility to accommodate challenging buyer requirements; delivering quality of international standard; ability to scale order quantity on demand; and remarkable service and delivery records that exhibit exceptional reliability; low lead times; and ability to develop proto-types are globally accepted attributes of Sri Lankan Electronic and Electrical exporters. The precision manufacturing capability utilizing cutting-edge technology, high-quality raw material, trained talent and professional expertise have enabled Sri Lanka to successfully offer highly regarded, end-to-end service provisions to many renowned international brands.

The inherent, unique attributes of the human capital available within the country adds immense value to manufacturers and buyers alike. With a national literacy rate of 95%, the presence of high English language competency in middle management, and high employee loyalty are aspects that have an indirect impact that enhances the overall efficiency and reliability within the Electronic and Electrical sector.

Sri Lanka also possesses extensive, high-quality deposits of minerals such as kaolin, feldspar, silica sand, quartz and ilmenite, used as a base material for electronic products. As an emerging export partner in the value chain, ‘Genuity’ of the Sri Lankan Electronic and Electrical industry has been hailed by the global industry.

South Asia’s emergence in the Electronic and Electrical Sector value chain

South Asian emergence is increasingly evident as one of the most sought-after locations for electronic manufacturing. Availability of technical expertise, economical labour, and a viable alternative to large global players, to China as an operating base, are key factors that have resulted in this shift. Globally, manufacturers in high-cost locations such as Japan, the EU and the United Kingdom are actively looking for an alternative to China as a manufacturing base. Sri Lanka’s geo-location enhances its value exponentially as the most attractive destination to relocate supply bases within the region. A number of contract manufacturers and importers from Japan, Scandinavia, United States and the United Kingdom currently source from Sri Lanka. With such dynamics the country presents an ideal relocating base for bigger companies, which are mostly multinationals.

Export potential and global connectivity

Sri Lanka’s unique geographical positioning astride the main east-west sea route, presents buyers with unparalleled benefits, advantages, and overall value. Proximity to large markets, and preferential market access created through bilateral and multilateral trade agreements provides huge export potential. Fast becoming a fully-fledged logistical hub in the region, Sri Lanka also presents economical, flexible and timely sea and air connectivity to key global markets in the Electronic and Electrical sector.

With the Electronic and Electrical component industries steadily increasing levels of manufacturing in Asia, Sri Lanka presents an attractive proposition for design, manufacturing, development, and logistics destinations that the global industry demands.

Research & Development

Within the country’s Electronics and Electrical industry, the focus, and investments on R&D in affiliation with global partners has enabled and empowered sustainable innovation and design capability that can be made available at economical scales. This also has enabled global brands in search of small and medium scale high-quality manufacturers and service providers to procure total end to end solutions, that consist of design, development, manufacturing and delivery solutions of the highest standard.