The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited
The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited is one of Sri Lanka’s largest business conglomerates that has subsidiaries in several fields including media, plastics, packaging, electrical, chemicals, personal care and consumer products, tea, entertainment and communication, information communication technology (ICT), services and projects. The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited traces its roots to 1938. Officially, the company was incorporated in 1967. The company was founded by Sinnathamby Rajandram and Subramaniam Mahadevan. R. Rajamahendran, who is the current Chairperson, is the son of Sinnathamby Rajandram.
MBC Networks (Pvt) Limited and MTV Channel (Pvt) Limited are the Maharaja Group’s subsidiaries in the media sector. MBC Networks (Pvt) Limited, a media company dedicated to radio broadcasting, has five radio stations: Yes FM, Sirasa FM, Shakthi FM, Y FM, and Legends FM. The Sinhala language media outlet Sirasa FM has an audience reach of 12.88 percent. English language stations Yes FM and Legends FM have an audience reach of 0.20 percent and 0.04 percent respectively. The Tamil language channel Shakthi FM has an audience reach of 5.94 percent, while the bilingual Sinhala and English language radio station Y FM has an audience reach of 3.70 percent.
MTV Channel (Pvt) Limited has three TV channels namely, Shakthi TV, Sirasa TV and TV 1 under its wing. Sinhala language channel Sirasa TV has an audience reach of 15.4 percent while the Tamil language channel Shakthi TV has an audience reach of 6.1 percent. The newly established TV 1 has an audience reach of 0.7 percent.
Presently, The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited is owned by Rajandram Rajamahendran, also referred to as R. Rajamahendran, and his son Sashidharan Rajamahendran. R. Rajamahendran owns 0.003 percent of direct shares in the company. However, he and his son Sashidharan Rajamahendran own a significant percentage of the company and other shareholding companies through Capital Holdings (Pvt) Limited.
Business Form
Private
Legal Form
Limited Liability Company
Business Sectors
Radio and TV broadcasting, plastics, packaging, electrical, chemicals, personal care and consumer products, tea, media, entertainment and communication, information communication technology (ICT), services and projects.
Individual Owner
Other Radio Outlets
Yes FM (0.20%)
Legends FM (0.04%)
Other Online Outlets
Media Business
Media Business
TV broadcasting | MTV Channel (Pvt) Limited
Radio broadcasting | MBC Networks (Pvt) Limited
Business
TV Broadcasting
MTV Channel (Pvt) Limited
Radio Broadcasting
MBC Networks (Pvt) Limited
Plastics
S-Lon Lanka (Pvt) Limited
S-lon Industrial Plastics (Pvt) Limited
S-Lon Lear Lanka (Pvt) Limited
PE Plus (Pvt) Limited
Tea
A. F. Jones Exporters (Ceylon) Private Limited
Harrisons Colombo (Pvt) Limited
Chemicals
Harrisons Chemical (Pvt) Limited
Harcros Chemicals (Pvt) Limited
Packaging
Tuffline Limited
Electrical
Kevilton Electrical Products (Pvt) Limited
Personal Care
ICL Marketing (Pvt) Limited
International Cosmetics (Pvt) Limited
ICT
Computer Systems (Pvt) Limited
Services
Harrisons Shipping (Pvt) Limited
Cannice Creations International (Pvt) Limited
Projects
The Maharaja Organisation (Projects) Limited
Entertainment
Stein Studios, Maharaja Entertainments (Pvt) Limited
Aquarius (Pvt) Limited
Unknown
Capital Holdings (Pvt) Limited
Uknown
Dawson Capital Limited
Jones Overseas Limited
Management
Maharaja Institute of Management (Pvt) Limited
Vision Link (Pvt) Limited
General Information
Founding Year
1938
Affiliated Interests Founder
Subramaniam Mahadevan and Sinnathamby Rajandram are the founders of The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited. Mahadevan and Rajandram worked together at Beer and Co. as guarantee brokers. Mahadevan was appointed as its Manager after Beer and Co. was taken over by Dodge and Seymour in 1935. Dodge and Seymour ceased to exist in Sri Lanka and in order to take over the client base, both Mahadevan and Rajandram established several companies including Mahadevan's Limited, Rajandram Limited, Stirling Products and Maharaja Distribution.
Mahadevan passed away in 1957, and Sinnathamby Rajandram took over the management of the companies they had established. Sinnathamby Rajandram’s sons, Rajandram Maharaja and Rajandram Rajamahendran (also referred to as R. Rajamahendran), eventually took over the company in 1965. With the restriction of imports into the country in 1959, they established several companies such as Parker Quick Ink, Ponds Cosmetic, Chemway and S-Lon PVC. These companies eventually became the forerunners to the current The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited. Although the roots of the company were formed since the 1930s, the company with the name The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited was formally incorporated only in 1967.
Employees
Missing Data
Contact
The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited
No. 146, Dawson Street, Colombo 2
Tel: + 94 11 4792 600, +94 11 2448 354, +94 11 2430 037
Fax: +94 11 2447 308
Email: info@maharaja.lk
Website: www.capitalmaharaja.com
Tax/ ID Number
PB295
Financial Information
Revenue (Financial Data/ Optional)
Missing Data
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)
Missing Data
Management
Executive Board
Rajandram Rajamahendran – the Chairperson of The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited and owns the company, as well as the other shareholding companies of The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited and its subsidiaries with his son Sashidharan Rajamahendran. Rajandram Rajamahendran serves as a Director at several companies affiliated with the Maharaja Group.
Rajamahendran Sashidaran – the son of Rajandram Rajamahendran and is also a Managing Director at The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited. Additionally, he serves as a Director at Tuffline Limited and Capital Holdings (Pvt) Limited, among several other companies affiliated with the Maharaja Group. He and Rajandram Rajamahendran own Capital Holdings (Pvt) Limited.
Arun Pradeep Maharaja – the son of Rajandram Maharaja and the nephew of Rajandram Rajamahendran. He is a Director at the Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka (MBSL).
Eshini Champika Mudalige – Director at Tuffline Limited, in addition to being a Director at The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited.
Manmohan Bharara – the CEO of The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited and the Director of Kansai Paints Lanka (Pvt) Limited.
Nicola Karen Nedra Weerasinghe – Group Director for Electronic Media Business at The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited.
Susil Chandra Weerasekera – Director at The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited.
Kirubaharan Kumarakulasingham – Director at Tuffline Limited.
Chandima Rodrigo Weliwitage – Director at The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited.
Brahmana Waduge Anuradha Jayasinghe Galapita – Group Director for Tuffline Limited.
Jayalath Suranga Bandara Wijeyasiri Weeraparakrama Mahapa – serves as a Director at The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited.
Shanthi Bhagirathan – Group Director for MBC Networks (Pvt) Limited and Stein Studios – MTV Channels (Pvt) Limited.
Wilson Fitzroy Srilal Ahangama – the Group Finance Director at The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited and also serves as a Director at Tuffline Limited.
John Chevaan Devavarathan Daniel – He has previously worked in MTV Channel (Pvt) Limited, which is a subsidiary of The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited, as a News Anchor. He heads the News First division of the organisation.
Leonie Seneviratne – serves as a Director at The Capital Mahraja Organisation Limited.
Nimal de Soysa Cooke – serves as an Executive Director at The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited. He is also a Director at the American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka, Tuffline Limited and Capital Holdings (Pvt) Limited, among several other companies affiliated with the Maharaja Group.
Anjali Sujatha Rajamahendran – the daughter of Rajandram Rajamahendran and serves as a Director at The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited.
Sandeep Vasantrao Shahapurkar – serves as a Director at The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited.
Other Influential People
Rudrani Balasubramanium – has served as a Director and Company Secretary in several companies affiliated with The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited. As per the official website of The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited, she is still listed as a Director.
Further Information
Meta Data
The official website of The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited does not specify the ownership details of the organisation. Instead, it provides a list of some of its subsidiary companies, the board of directors and the contact details of the company. Not all companies under the Rajamahendran family could be ascertained during the research process since the Department of Registrar of Companies documents information with regards to companies and not individual owners. In total, 18 companies within The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited were studied. These companies often own each other, but almost always at some level include Capital Holdings (Pvt) Limited, which is directly owned by the Rajamahendrans. Chairperson Rajandram Rajamahendran is occasionally referred to as Kili Maharaja and R. Rajamahendran. These names are spelt differently across the cited sources. Information on the company’s shareholders was gathered through the annual returns available at the Department of Registrar of Companies. The most recent data was available for the year 2017. While the Media Ownership Monitor research team reached out to The Capital Maharaja Organisation by formally requesting for the company’s information on 20 July 2018, the company did not respond to the aforementioned request. Viewership data was obtained from the Kantar Lanka Market Research Bureau (LMRB) for the year 2017, while listenership data was gathered for the period of January- November 2017.
