Ministry of Industries (Sri Lanka)

The Ministry of Industries^[1] (Sinhala: කර්මාන්ත අමාත්‍යාංශය; Tamil: கைத்தொழில் அமைச்சு) is a cabinet ministry of the Government of Sri Lanka responsible for industry and commerce. The ministry is responsible for formulating and implementing national policy on industry and commerce and other subjects which come under its purview.^[2] The current Minister of Industries is Sunil Handunneththi.^[3] The ministry's secretary is Thilaka Jayasundara.^[4]

Ministry of Industries

කර්මාන්ත අමාත්‍යාංශය கைத்தொழில் அமைச்சு
Ministry overview
Formed	1931; 94 years ago (1931)
Jurisdiction	Government of Sri Lanka
Headquarters	73/1 Galle Road, Colombo 3 6.919315°N 79.848821°E / 6.919315; 79.848821
Annual budget	LKR 2 billion (2016, recurrent) LKR 3 billion (2016, capital)
Minister responsible	Sunil Handunnetti, Minister of Industries
Ministry executive	TBD, Secretary
Child agencies	Ceylon Sugar (Private) Limited Consumer Affairs Authority Co-operative Employees Commission Co-operative Wholesale Establishment Department of Commerce Department of Co-operative Development Department of Food Commissioner Department of Measurement Units, Standards and Services Department of Textile Industries Elephant Pass Saltern Hingurana Sugar Industry Limited Industrial Development Board Internal Trade Department Kahatagaha Graphite Lanka Ashok Leyland Limited Lanka Cement Limited Lanka General Trading Company Limited Lanka Mineral Sands Company Lanka Salusala Limited Lanka Sathosa Limited Lanka Textile Mills Emporium Limited Manthai Salt Limited National Crafts Council National Design Centre and 11 others National Enterprise Development Authority National Institute of Cooperative Development National Intellectual Property Office of Sri Lanka National Paper Corporation Limited Paranthan Chemicals Limited Registrar of Companies SME Authority SME Venture Capital Company Sri Lanka Cement Corporation Sri Lanka Handicraft Board (Laksala) Sri Lanka Institute of Textile and Apparels
Website	www.industry.gov.lk

The biggest government controlled wholesale and retail chain known as the Lanka Sathosa falls under this ministry. The acronym SA-THO-SA is believed to be derived from the Sinhalese name "SAmoopakaara THOgaveladhaam SAngsthava", i.e., Cooperative Wholesale Establishment.

Ministers

Parties

  Governors of British Ceylon   United National Party   Sri Lanka Freedom Party   Mahajana Eksath Peramuna   All Ceylon Muslim Congress   Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna   National People's Power

Ministers of Industry

Name		Portrait	Party	Took office	Left office	Head of government		Ministerial title	Refs
	Peri Sundaram			1931	1935			Minister of Labour, Industry and Commerce	[5]
	Claude Corea			1936	1947				[6]
	George E. de Silva			26 September 1947	1948		D. S. Senanayake	Minister of Industries, Industrial Research and Fisheries	[7][8][9]
	C. Sittampalam		Independent	1948	1948				[7]
	G. G. Ponnambalam		All Ceylon Tamil Congress	3 September 1948					[10][11]
				19 June 1952			Dudley Senanayake	Minister of Industries and Fisheries	[10][12]
					22 October 1953		John Kotelawala		[13]
	Kanthiah Vaithianathan			1953	1953			Minister of Industries, Housing and Social Services	[13]
	William de Silva		Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party		18 May 1959		S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike	Minister of Industries and Fisheries	[14][15][16][17]
	W. J. C. Munasinha		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	9 June 1959					[17]
							W. Dahanayake
	Maithripala Senanayake		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	23 July 1960			Sirimavo Bandaranaike	Minister of Industries, Home and Cultural Affairs	[18]
	Philip Gunawardena		Mahajana Eksath Peramuna	March 1965			Dudley Senanayake	Minister of Industries and Fisheries	[19][20]
	T. B. Subasinghe		Sri Lanka Freedom Party		1 March 1977		Sirimavo Bandaranaike	Minister of Industries and Scientific Affairs	[21][22]
	Cyril Mathew		United National Party	23 July 1977			J. R. Jayewardene		[23][24][25]
	Ranil Wickremesinghe		United National Party	18 February 1989			Ranasinghe Premadasa	Minister of Industries	[26][27]
				30 March 1990				Minister of Industries, Science and Technology	[28][29]
	C. V. Gunaratne		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	19 August 1994			D. B. Wijetunga	Minister of Industrial Development	[30][31]
	G. L. Peiris		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	19 October 2000			Chandrika Kumaratunga	Minister of Constitutional Affairs and Industrial Development	[32][33]
	Ronnie de Mel		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	14 September 2001				Minister of Trade, Industrial Development and Rural Industries	[34][35]
	G. L. Peiris		United National Party	12 December 2001				Minister of Industrial Development	[36][37]
	Anura Bandaranaike		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	10 April 2004				Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment Promotion	[38][39][40]
				17 September 2004				Minister of Industry and Investment Promotion	[41]
	Sarath Amunugama		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	22 August 2005					[42]
	Kumara Welgama		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	28 January 2007			Mahinda Rajapaksa	Minister of Industrial Development	[43][44][45]
	Risad Badhiutheen		All Ceylon Muslim Congress	23 April 2010	22 December 2014			Minister of Industry and Commerce	[46][47][48][49][50]
				12 January 2015	26 October 2018		Maithripala Sirisena		[51][52][53][54][55][56][57]
	Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	9 November 2018	15 December 2018
	Risad Badhiutheen		All Ceylon Muslim Congress	18 March 2019	3 June 2019
	Wimal Weerawansa		Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna	22 November 2019	3 March 2021		Gotabaya Rajapaksa
	Dilum Amunugama		Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna	3 March 2021	18 April 2022			Minister of Trade and Commerce
	Ramesh Pathirana		Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna	18 April 2022	23 September 2024			Minister of Trade, Commerce, and Food Security
	Harini Amarasuriya		National People's Power	23 September 2024	18 November 2024		Anura Kumara Dissanayake	Minister of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development
	Sunil Handunnetti		National People's Power	18 November 2024	Incumbent				[58]

Secretaries

Industry Secretaries

Name	Took office	Left office	Title	Refs
Tilak Collure	25 April 2010		Industries and Commerce Secretary	[59][60]
Anura Siriwardana	12 July 2012		Industry and Commerce Secretary	[61]
S. S. Miyanawala	19 January 2015		Industries and Commerce Secretary	[62][63][64][65]
T. M. K. B. Tennekoon	8 September 2015		Industry and Commerce Affairs Secretary	[66]