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Biman Mukherji

The visit by Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to India on his first overseas trip is seen by analysts as his commitment to deepen New Delhi’s economic support for debt-stricken Colombo and allay any concerns over China’s influence in the South Asian island nation.
Dissanayake, who took office in September, met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday and both leaders agreed to increase economic cooperation. Among their proposed measures, India, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates will build an energy pipeline between the two South Asian countries while India also plans to supply liquefied natural gas to Sri Lanka.
Following Sri Lanka’s economic collapse in 2022, India stepped in with billions of dollars in financial aid, including food, fuel and medicines.
During his meeting with Modi, Dissanayake thanked India for stabilising the country’s economy through financial support of US$4 billion and helping in restructuring the country’s debt.
“I think he [Dissanayake] would primarily be interested in ensuring that commercial support [from India] comes through because the country’s economy remains very fragile,” said Harsh Pant, an international relations professor at King’s College London.
While India’s aid to Sri Lanka would continue, Delhi might bring up concerns of private Indian investors about their projects in Sri Lanka coming under scrutiny by the local authorities, said Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy, associate fellow, Neighbourhood Studies at Observer Research Foundation.

The concerns arose after US prosecutors charged India’s Adani Group with bribery and fraud, which has cast doubts over the conglomerate’s involvement in two wind power stations and a port terminal project in Sri Lanka valued at more than US$1 billion in total. Colombo is reviewing both projects.
Indian tycoon Gautam Adani was charged last month by US prosecutors, who accused him of paying bribes and hiding the payments from American investors. The Adani Group has denied all the charges as “baseless”.
“A lot of Indian investors who are interested in investing in Sri Lanka will be concerned about whether Sri Lanka’s scrutiny of Adani’s wind power project will have ramifications on other projects,” Shivamurthy said.
Sri Lanka is determined to fight corruption with Dissanayake having promised to recover stolen Sri Lankan assets during his election campaign. “He is trying to show he is transparent and that is motivating him to politicise certain projects,” Shivamurthy said.
A close ally of Modi, Adani was the first major foreign investor in Sri Lanka following the country’s economic meltdown in 2022. Sri Lanka approved Adani’s wind power project in the island’s northwest in February 2023 under its previous administration, but the project has been delayed by a court challenge over environmental concerns.
Among the projects announced following the meeting between Modi and Dissanayake, Indian state-run firm Petronet LNG will supply liquefied natural gas to Sri Lankan engineering firm LTL Holdings in Colombo for five years.


Before the latest announcements, Tata Group and Reliance Jio have shown interest in buying stakes in state-owned Sri Lankan Airlines and Sri Lanka Telecom, respectively.
But there are concerns among Indian investors about the privatisation process of state-owned enterprises under Dissanayake’s government, Shivamurthy said.
Dissanayake’s party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a member of the National People’s Power (NPP) alliance headed by him, has campaigned for strong state intervention and lower taxes.
Balancing between India and China
Despite India and Sri Lanka stepping up their diplomatic and economic engagements, New Delhi will be concerned about a rethink by Colombo over the visit of foreign research ships to its waters, analysts say.
Sri Lanka is set to lift a ban on the visit of such ships from early next year. The ban was previously imposed after strong security concerns raised by India and the US following frequent docking requests from Chinese research vessels, according to media reports.
New Delhi is concerned that Chinese spy ships might be masquerading as research vessels to step up their surveillance activities in the Indian Ocean.
India and Sri Lanka are likely to discuss Colombo’s decision to lift the ban given New Delhi’s concerns, Shivamurthy said.

China remains an important partner for Sri Lanka due to its substantial aid to Colombo and mega-project developments in the country through the Belt and Road Initiative.
Colombo signed debt deals in June with lenders, including China, to meet a key condition for a bailout by the International Monetary Fund. The largest single bilateral lender, China accounted for US$4.66 billion of the US$10.58 billion total loans borrowed by Sri Lanka from other countries.
China is involved in the development of Colombo Port City, which is expected to draw total investments of US$15 billion by the time of its completion in 2041. China Merchants Port has been leasing Hambantota International Port following the signing of a US$1.1 billion 99-year lease deal in 2017.
Beijing has said it will expand cooperation with Colombo in other areas including finance, investment, energy and tourism.
Despite Dissanayake’s leftist leaning, he would likely work with India and China to assuage any concerns that New Delhi might have over a potential shift in Sri Lanka’s foreign policy towards Beijing, Pant said.
Referring to the close relationship between Chinese leaders and former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Pant said: “I don’t think the kind of relationships that the Chinese had with Rajapaksa would be replicated, but China remains a very important source of funds. So I don’t think any government would ignore China.”


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Sri Lanka’s Dissanayake chooses India for his first overseas trip – is China a factor?

Sri Lanka’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands ahead of their meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Monday. Photo: Reuters

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Hambantota port in Sri Lanka, which is one of the key projects of Belt and Road cooperation between China and Sri Lanka. Photo: Xinhua

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Indian and Chinese army greet each other along the Line of Actual Control on October 31. Photo: Indian Army/AFP

Congress party member Jairam Ramesh. Photo: Getty Images

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Chinese Premier Li Qiang holds talks to Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on December 3. Photo: Xinhua

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Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake speaks to the new cabinet of Sri Lanka in Colombo on November 18. Photo: Department of Government Information-Sri Lanka/Xinhua

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The visit by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to New Delhi is seen as a move by Colombo to seek India’s support for debt-laden Sri Lanka


The visit by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to New Delhi is seen as a move by Colombo to seek India’s support for debt-laden Sri Lanka.


Sri Lanka’s Dissanayake chooses India for his first overseas trip – is China a factor?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The visit by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to New Delhi is seen as a move by Colombo to seek India’s support for debt-laden Sri Lanka

The visit by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to New Delhi is seen as a move by Colombo to seek India’s support for debt-laden Sri Lanka