Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka in April 2025 was much more than a ceremonial trip or a photo-op. It bore the unmistakable stamp of his strategic clarity, personal warmth, and a quiet but decisive recalibration of India–Sri Lanka relations in a region undergoing significant flux. With political uncertainty in Bangladesh, the civil war in Myanmar, and Sri Lanka itself preparing for elections to local bodies, the timing and tone of the visit sent an unambiguous signal: India is prepared to be not just a neighbour, but a partner through complexity and crisis.

The seven Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) signed during the visit, and the conferment of Sri Lanka’s highest civilian honour on PM Modi, may have grabbed headlines. But what lies beneath is more transformative—a pivot from state-centric hard security to non-traditional security (NTS) cooperation that focuses on safeguarding lives, livelihoods, and dignity.

Why Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Matters

Security today extends beyond tanks and treaties. It includes the fight against climate change, pandemics, cybercrime, and even disinformation. These are borderless threats. They require joint, sustained responses—based not on hierarchy, but on trust.

India and Sri Lanka, linked by geography and civilisational history, are particularly well placed to take the lead. Take, for example, how both countries coordinated the repatriation of stranded nationals during the COVID-19 pandemic, or how their navies regularly collaborate in search and rescue missions during cyclones. These are early indicators of how a shared security architecture can evolve through lived experience.

If institutionalized properly—through joint training, interoperable platforms, and grassroots resilience programmes—this NTS lens can revolutionize bilateral cooperation. It should operate across all levels: government-to-government, institution-to-institution, and crucially, people-to-people.

Seven MOUs: Small in Size, Large in Signal

Among the MOUs signed during the April visit, three carry strategic weight from a human security angle:

• The high-voltage DC interconnection for cross-border electricity exchange enhances energy resilience and helps reduce costs for end users in Sri Lanka.
• The Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) framework offers a chance for Sri Lanka to join India’s proven digital stack, including platforms like Aadhaar and UPI, which can modernize delivery of public services, improve financial inclusion, and reduce corruption.
• The Defence Cooperation MoU, although traditionally framed, incorporates cyber defence, private sector participation, and capacity building. These are especially timely given recent ransomware attacks on financial institutions and state databases in South Asia.

If these MOUs move beyond bureaucratic inertia and political cycles, they could become building blocks of a forward-looking, trust-based bilateral architecture.

The Defence Cooperation Agreement: Let the Light In

The India–Sri Lanka Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) remains confidential, but carefully opening a public conversation around its non-traditional components can be beneficial. Areas like maritime search-and-rescue, cyber defence, and climate disaster response are natural platforms for such dialogue, which is necessary to address misperceptions and put paid to efforts by vested interests and India baiters to create meaningless obstacles. This is especially in a region where China’s shadow looms large.

For instance, a joint disaster preparedness exercise in Batticaloa or Colombo, involving both militaries and civil agencies, would help demystify India’s role while building local capacity. Similarly, setting up a cyber training cell under Sri Lanka’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) with Indian assistance could address a growing threat without triggering geopolitical anxiety.

Given China’s tendency to cloak its economic initiatives in strategic ambiguity—often leaving recipient nations in debt distress—India’s contrasting model of transparent, responsive cooperation needs to be amplified. India’s contribution to humanitarian demining operations (2002-2012) is a classic example. Trust thrives where sunlight enters.

India does not need to match China dollar for dollar. What it must offer is something deeper: a partnership built on trust, respect for sovereignty and long-term development vision.

Infrastructure as Human Security

Consider India’s work on the Maho–Omanthai railway line, with plans to extend it to Jaffna. This isn’t just an engineering project—it’s a pathway to reconciliation. By connecting northern Sri Lanka to the economic mainstream, it helps reduce regional inequality, fosters post-war integration, and makes communities less vulnerable to extremist ideologies.

The same can be said for investments in renewable energy, vocational training centres, and IT parks in provinces historically neglected. A solar power project in Mannar, for example, or a maritime training centre in Trincomalee supported by India, demonstrates how infrastructure can also be a vector for inclusion and dignity.

Shared Culture, Shared Future

Civilizational diplomacy is quietly but profoundly effective. Joint restoration efforts at Buddhist heritage sites, like Anuradhapura or the Nagadeepa Temple, tap into deep-rooted spiritual links. These aren’t mere symbolic gestures. They catalyze spiritual tourism, encourage interfaith dialogue, and create jobs in heritage preservation without the burden of state bureaucracy.

India could expand fellowships in Buddhist studies, fund digitization of palm-leaf manuscripts, and support biannual youth pilgrimages across both countries. Universities and think tanks should lead this—working with community groups to keep the ethos inclusive and non-political.

From SAGAR to MAHASAGAR: A Maritime Mandate

India’s SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) vision and the MAHASAGAR platform are more than maritime slogans. They offer a blueprint for responsible ocean governance:

• The proposed $500 million SAGAR Line of Credit can be used for radar and surveillance stations along Sri Lanka’s coastline, helping monitor illegal fishing and trafficking. NTS also looks at maritime domain awareness, underwater domain awareness and related subjects.
• Blue Economy zones in Trincomalee and Jaffna, developed with Indian technical support and private investment, can stimulate local economies without overburdening ecosystems. The inclusion of Oluvil (Ampara district) in to this project is very important.
• With over 1,400 Sri Lankan maritime personnel trained in India already, expanding such training under MAHASAGAR would create a cadre of regional leaders in port management and maritime law.
• Strategic communication—through forums and public lectures—can build a shared vocabulary on international maritime norms and ecological stewardship.

Looking Ahead: From Strategic Alignment to Moral Alignment

India’s greatest strength in Sri Lanka is not its size— its credibility. That credibility stems from how India behaves in moments of vulnerability. During Sri Lanka’s 2022 economic crisis, it was India that provided $4 billion in urgent assistance without demanding strategic concessions. This memory lingers.

Going forward, India must articulate its relationship with Sri Lanka not just as one of strategic alignment, but of moral alignment—rooted in democracy, pluralism, and mutual respect.

To that end, unresolved issues must be addressed with sensitivity and innovation. The fisheries conflict, the interpretation of maritime laws, concerns over the 13th Amendment, or even the question of Kachchativu—these require more than diplomatic statements. They require structured public conversations, citizen diplomacy, and possibly even creative, out-of-the-box mechanisms such as joint marine conservation zones or transboundary livelihood agreements.

A New Government, A New Opportunity

The newly elected JVP-led National People's Power (NPP) government, by all indications, is here to stay for more than one tenure. With a developmental mandate and a public appetite for reform, there is political space to take big, bold decisions.

India must seize this window of opportunity—not to overreach, but to expedite projects already agreed upon. From finishing railways to launching new digital infrastructure pilots, timelines must be met. For India, it must be a “whole of the government” approach, to effectively coopt other stakeholders and operate to strict timelines. This is important. Both countries must reduce bureaucratic friction, appoint empowered nodal officers, and use trilateral financing models if needed to overcome capacity gaps.

Walking Together, Not Walking Ahead

As Sri Lanka navigates economic stress, internal contestation, and the pressures of strategic competition, India has a unique chance—to be not a rescuer, but a fellow traveller.

Trust is not built in a day. It’s built in moments—when a student receives a digital scholarship because of a DPI platform, when a fisherman feels safer at sea, when a Sri Lankan startup partners with an Indian fintech incubator, or when a heritage site is jointly preserved for the next generation.

That is the India–Sri Lanka relationship worth nurturing. Not based on transactions, but trust. Not reactive, but resilient. Not extractive, but enabling. As Asia’s democracies stand at a crossroads, this relationship can be a beacon—not of rivalry, but of responsible regionalism.

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