Umesh Modi Group signs MoU with Autodrome

By Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

Chairman, President and CEO of Umesh Modi Group Umesh K. Modi, was in Sri Lanka recently to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Autodrome (Pvt) Ltd, to distribute Revlon products in Sri Lanka.

Umesh Modi

He was instrumental in bringing 15 internationally renowned collaborators to India, he said.

The Sunday Observer met Modi in Colombo last week. He said there is a great potential for international cosmetic products in Sri Lanka. Revlon was one of the first international brands to be manufactured in the country. "The money is scarce and bank interest rates are high which affects the businesses. But it is a challenge for us at a time when we are launching our export business," he said referring to the cosmetic business he set up in Sri Lanka. He said the company's initial investment in Sri Lanka is about USD two million.

"We want to use the factory we built in Sri Lanka for export purposes. The factory produces small pack sizes. But in India we have a large factory that produces large packs. Here it can only produce 25 percent of the quantity," he said.

Modi said, that they have already started exporting Revlon products to the South Asian countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh. He also said their company has tied up with Autodrome (Pvt) Ltd, for the distribution of Revlon products in the country. "It was difficult to find good distributors these days".

Umesh K. Modi a gold medallist in chemical engineering was honoured by the Indian Ministry of Industries with the "Man of the Year award for 1984".

Starting with the Modi Sugar Mills he is now into of cosmetics, distillery, sugar, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, power, steel, engineering and mining industry with a workforce of 6000 employees.