Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Santosh Jha is a seasoned diplomat with experience in several key postings. In this interview, he discusses the significance of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka and the opportunities and challenges in the India-Sri Lanka partnership. He highlights the importance of fostering a business-friendly, stable investment climate to attract Indian investment and notes that the visit is expected to deliver key outcomes that will elevate the partnership to new heights.

Q: Given the current regional challenges, what is the trajectory of India-Sri Lanka relations?

India-Sri Lanka relations have never been stronger. Rooted in shared aspirations for prosperity, development, and security, our partnership is expanding into new and diverse areas. Sri Lanka remains an integral part of India’s Neighborhood-First Policy and the MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions) approach. As a reflection of this commitment, India extended an unconditional financial assistance package of over $ 4 billion—the largest ever deployed in support of any country. With Sri Lanka now on the path to economic recovery, it has a great opportunity to integrate with India’s fast-growing economy, which has doubled in size from $ 2.1 trillion in 2015 to $ 4.3 trillion in 2025. As the fifth-largest economy, soon to be the third-largest, India remains a key partner in Sri Lanka’s resurgence.

Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Santosh Jha

Q: India’s support for Sri Lanka’s economic stabilisation is now widely acknowledged by the public. What Sri Lanka needs now is growth. Could you share insights on the next phase of economic support?

India is Sri Lanka’s largest trade partner, a leading investor, and the biggest source of tourism revenue. The India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has significantly benefited Sri Lanka, with 65% of Sri Lanka’s exports utilising FTA benefits compared to just 5% for India. Sri Lanka has also maintained a trade surplus in FTA-covered goods. However, both nations recognise the need to upgrade the FTA by removing existing impediments, eliminating non-tariff barriers, and enabling greater trade facilitation. India’s development partnership in Sri Lanka includes railway modernisation and port upgrades such as the Kankesanthurai Port, infrastructure projects like housing, schools, and hospitals, renewable energy initiatives such as solar electrification of religious places and hybrid energy projects in Jaffna, and support for agriculture, fisheries, and cold storage facilities. To date, India has extended financial assistance exceeding $ 7 billion, including $ 800 million in grant aid and the conversion of $ 100 million in loans into grants. These projects span all 25 districts in Sri Lanka.

Q: How can India and Sri Lanka further strengthen business and investment flows?

India is already a leading foreign investor in Sri Lanka, and this trend is expected to grow. Major Indian investments include the West Container Terminal at Colombo Port, the ITC Hotel, renewable energy projects, and CEAT’s $ 225 million acquisition of two Michelin plants. Bilateral infrastructure and energy projects are investment-driven, and India continues to encourage private sector investments. A business delegation from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is expected later this year. During President Disanayake’s visit to India in December 2024, he engaged with Indian industry leaders, reinforcing the importance of Sri Lanka’s proximity to India’s economic growth. To capitalise on this, Sri Lanka must ensure a business-friendly, stable investment climate.

Q: Another critical area of concern is maritime security and regional challenges. How are India and Sri Lanka addressing these issues?

Both nations have reaffirmed their shared maritime security interests in the Indian Ocean Region and are committed to strengthening regional security through the Colombo Security Conclave, BIMSTEC, and IORA. This includes joint training, military exercises, and defence collaboration such as the deployment of a Dornier aircraft for maritime surveillance and the establishment of a Maritime Rescue and Coordination Centre in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has also made it clear that it will not allow its territory to be used in ways that threaten India’s security or regional stability.

Q: What steps are being taken to strengthen cultural and educational ties between India and Sri Lanka?

The people-to-people ties between India and Sri Lanka span millennia. Recent initiatives to strengthen cultural and educational connections include recognising Pali as a classical language in India, with Sri Lanka being the first to welcome the announcement, translating Jataka Tales into Sinhala and reprinting the Namamala Pali grammar book, and promoting Buddhist circuits and the Ramayana trail, which attract visitors from both countries. Education and youth engagement remain key priorities, with nearly 800 scholarships awarded annually to Sri Lankan students, including 200 new scholarships for students of Jaffna and Eastern Universities, along with expanded skills training and development opportunities for Sri Lankans in Indian institutions.

Q: How do you see the future of the India-Sri Lanka partnership amid the influence of other global players?

The India-Sri Lanka partnership is built on people-centric cooperation, with future collaboration focusing on digital transformation and IT-enabled services, renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure, human resource and skill development, and trade and investment growth to strengthen both economies. These areas will define the partnership’s next decade, ensuring that both nations grow together and remain future-ready.

i’m Q: Lastly, what is the broader significance of Indian PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka?

Indian PM Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit follows President Disanayake’s first official visit to India in December 2024. This visit holds special significance as PM Modi will be the first foreign leader to visit Sri Lanka under the new Government—underscoring the unique and strategic nature of bilateral relations. This will be PM Modi’s fourth visit to Sri Lanka in the last decade, reflecting India’s commitment to supporting Sri Lanka’s economic recovery, deepening cooperation on shared growth and development, and strengthening ties in areas such as investment, connectivity, digitisation, energy, security, and defence. The visit is expected to yield key outcomes that will elevate the India-Sri Lanka partnership to new heights.

Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) said in a press release that the New Sri Lankan Government Continues State Policy of Impunity, Denying Justice for Tamil people.

It further stated that “In his March 3, 2025, opening remarks at the UN Human Rights Council’s 58th session, which ends today April 4th, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk aptly stated, “An absence of accountability leads directly to an absence of peace.”

“In the island of Sri Lanka, the absence of accountability not only leads to the absence of peace, but rather and more urgent, threatens peace, as demonstrated by the widespread violence against Muslims that followed the Mullivaikkal Tamil Genocide and the continuing structural genocide of the Tamils.”

Given that thus far not a single Sinhala perpetrator who committed crimes against Tamil victims has been held accountable for their crimes, TGTE welcomes High Commissioner Turk’s observation that the present and newest Sri Lankan regime’s “…commitment to end impunity should extend to the large-scale violations that occurred during the civil war and prior insurgencies. These crimes must be thoroughly investigated, justice served to the victims, and perpetrators held accountable.”

“It has been more than 16 years since the 2009 Mullivaikkal Tamil Genocide occurred in the final stage of the armed conflict and more than 14 years since the 2012 UN Expert Panel on Accountability in Sri Lanka wrote in its report commissioned by former UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon that they found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity and war crimes were committed in Sri Lanka. Yet not a single person has been brought to justice, let alone been arrested. (This is the standard used by the ICC to issue arrest warrants.)”

“Last week, the UK government-imposed sanctions on former head of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces Shavendra Silva, former Navy Commander Wasantha Karanagoda, and former Commander of the Sri Lankan Army Jagath Jayasuriya.”

TGTE further stated that in 2023, the Canadian government imposed similar sanctions on Staff Sargeant Sunil Ratnayake, Lieutenant Commander Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi, former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In 2020, the US Department of State sanctioned Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva—issuing a travel ban “due to gross violations of human rights.”

TGTE further said that, Notably, all of these individuals sanctioned are political and military leaders of the Sri Lankan state. It is telling that these culprits are able to live their lives carefree in Sri Lanka; This fact clearly demonstrates that there is no possibility whatsoever that these individuals will ever be subject to the domestic judicial accountability process, shattering the illusion that there can ever be accountability through a domestic process, hybrid process, or domestic process with technical help from the UN HRC that the international community has continued to cling on to despite all evidence to the contrary. Harboring or promoting such an illusion is nothing other than giving the victims false hope and facilitating the Sri Lankan State’s policy of impunity for grave international crimes.

Another factor against the domestic process with technical help from the UN HRC is the absence of the crime of Genocide in the Sri Lankan penal code. The factors identified by Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese in her report subtitled “Genocide as colonial erasure “are the same factors noted in the 2012 UN Expert Panel Report on Accountability Sri Lanka.

In fact, the TGTE pointed this out in its August 29, 2011. letter to former UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon requesting to refer the political and military command of Sri Lanka to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and also to set up a commission of inquiry to investigate international crimes that took place in the island of Sri Lanka against the Tamil People.

Furthermore, in his 2015 report, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Al Hussein requested that the Sri Lankan government revise its penal code to include the crime of genocide. TGTE calls on the UN HRC to heed attention to the fact that if it sanctions Sri Lanka’s domestic accountability process without any changes to its policy or penal code then genocide, the most heinous crime—internationally known as the “mother of all crimes”—will go unpunished in perpetuity.

The 2012 UN Expert Panel report also states that the Sri Lankan State should acknowledge its role in the violations of humanitarian (i.e. war) laws. It has yet to follow this UN advice. Instead, what we have and continue to witness is tribalism by all successive Sri Lankan governments since 2009. Thus, there is no space for justice for Tamils in the domestic accountability process.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are the only forums for accountability.

Every time there is a change of regime in Sri Lanka, we hear familiar florid language from the UN HRC and international actors—either on purpose or unwittingly—that the new Sri Lankan government is committed to reconciliation. There have been four regime changes since 2009—Yet there has been no reconciliation, no justice, no change whatsoever.

“It is high time the UN HRC and other international actors recognize that nothing has happened and change course.”

The fact of the matter is that all previous regimes were dominated by Sinhala leaders and the current government is no different – it’s a “chip off the old block.”

Like the regime of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the current regime has also explicitly stated that;

“We have reiterated our rejection of Resolutions 46/1, 51/1, and 57/1 and the external evidence gathering mechanism on Sri Lanka that has been set up using these divisive and intrusive resolutions.

Prior to Sri Lanka’s most recent election, the current government promised that it would address the status of the POWs (i.e. Tamil political prisoners); repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), and address the issue of enforced disappearances; yet like the government’s before it, this latest one has taken no action on any of these issues.

The current Sri Lankan regime is also aggressively engaged in the Sinhalization of Tamil areas in order to destroy the distinct identity of the Tamil nation; as demonstrated by removal and destruction of Hindu temples at Kurunthur Malai, Kuchchaveli, and the illegal construction of a Buddhist temple in Thaiyiddy on seized private Tamil land.

To those that say that the new regime should be given more time to address accountability, the TGTE responds: As noted above, more time will not produce meaningful results.

Meanwhile, the Mothers of the Disappeared and the victims longing for justice are dying. To ask them to continue to wait is to betray these victims who, despite already waiting for justice for more than 16 years, still believe in the United Nations and international justice. Justice delayed is justice denied.

It is with all of the above in mind that the TGTE strongly urges the UN HRC to pass a resolution in at their 60th HRC session in September when Resolution 51/1 (“Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka”) expires and the HRC has an opportunity to recommend the UN Security Council refer the situation in Sri Lanka to the ICC.

Sri Lanka stands to lose up to US$ 1.23 billion in export revenue if it loses its Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) trade benefits with the European Union (EU), according to a recent study by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS). 

The withdrawal of this preferential tariff system would significantly affect the island nation’s trade dynamics, as it risks seeing its tariff rates revert to Most Favoured Nation (MFN) levels, potentially resulting in a 36.7% decline in its exports to the EU.

The IPS report titled “Who Stands to Lose? The Effects of GSP+ Withdrawal on Sri Lanka’s Exports and Labour Force” explores the broader implications for Sri Lanka’s economy and labor market if its preferential trade access to the EU is revoked. 

The loss of GSP+ would erode the country’s competitive edge in the EU market, shrinking export revenue while hampering efforts to diversify its export product base, especially in high-technology sectors.

The EU is a crucial market for Sri Lanka, particularly for high-tech products such as transformers, which made up 50% of Sri Lanka’s exports to the EU in 2019. 

The study suggests that a GSP+ withdrawal could cause a 10% reduction in transformer exports. Additionally, the apparel sector, a key industry for Sri Lanka, is also at risk. 

While this sector does not fully utilize GSP+, it could still face tariff hikes of nearly 10 percentage points, which could damage its price competitiveness in the EU market.

The loss of GSP+ would not only affect export sectors but also have adverse effects on Sri Lanka’s labor market. A reduction in export demand would likely lead to job losses in industries that rely heavily on EU markets, such as textiles and electronics. 

This could exacerbate existing employment challenges, particularly for women who are disproportionately employed in these export-driven sectors.

Moreover, the erosion of preferential access could stall Sri Lanka’s aspirations to enhance its export portfolio with more technologically advanced products. 

While the country has made strides in expanding its export categories beyond traditional commodities, the higher tariffs without GSP+ would likely deter new investments in high-value industries, limiting the scope for economic diversification.

In conclusion, the potential loss of GSP+ would have far-reaching consequences for Sri Lanka’s external sector, reducing its export earnings and impeding efforts to diversify its economy. 

With the EU being a major trade partner, the removal of GSP+ benefits poses a significant threat, particularly to sectors such as high-tech products and apparel, which are critical to Sri Lanka’s economic growth. 

The findings of the IPS study underscore the importance of maintaining these preferential trade relations for the nation’s economic stability and development.