Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

India to supply LNG to Sri Lanka for five years

Leaders also discuss linking power grids and petrol project

India-Sri-Lanka-Reuters
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. (Photo: Reuters)
Reuters

INDIA plans to supply liquefied natural gas to Sri Lanka’s power plants and will work on connecting the power grids of the two countries as well as lay a petroleum pipeline between the neighbours, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi said on Monday (16).

Modi was speaking at a joint press briefing with Sri Lanka’s president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, in New Delhi.


Dissanayake was on his first official visit to India after winning the presidency in September and securing a landslide parliamentary election victory last month.

Indian state-run firm Petronet has signed a deal to supply liquefied natural gas to Sri Lankan engineering firm LTL Holdings’ power plants in Colombo for five years through its terminal in the southern Indian city of Kochi.

Both sides also discussed a plan to connect power grids and lay a multi-product petroleum pipeline between the two countries, a joint statement from India’s External Affairs Ministry said.

Dissanayake said he had held “productive discussions” with India’s finance and foreign ministers, as well as national security adviser Ajit Doval. “Our conversations focused on strengthening Indo-Sri Lanka economic cooperation, enhancing investment opportunities, fostering regional security, and advancing key sectors such as tourism and energy,” Dissanayake said.

“These engagements reaffirm the commitment to deepening the partnership between our two nations.” New Delhi has been concerned about Beijing’s growing hold in Sri Lanka.

India has stepped up infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka in recent years, but China is Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral lender.

India and Sri Lanka also agreed to jointly develop offshore wind power potential in the Palk Straits, an area where India’s Adani Green Energy Ltd already has plans to invest $442 million (£347.6m) in two wind power stations.

Sri Lanka is reviewing the wind power project along with a $553m (£434.9m) terminal project at the Colombo port also linked to Adani Ports. India’s foreign secretary said there was no reference to Adani’s involvement in the Colombo project during the meeting between Modi and Dissanayake.

Sri Lanka’s ports minister, Bimal Ratnayake, said last week the allegations against Adani had no bearing on the Colombo deep-sea container terminal project.

“The problem between Adani and the US... is not our concern,” he told reporters during a tour of the port last Thursday (12) night. “It is of high importance for us that western container terminal development by Adani goes ahead.”

Ratnayake said the project was necessary to generate revenue for the ailing Sri Lankan economy, still teetering after an unprecedented crisis and foreign debt default in 2022. The port project has an estimated cost of $700m (£550.6bn) and is located next to a similar Chinese-run facility.

Sri Lanka sits astride the world’s busiest shipping route, which links the Middle East and East Asia, giving its maritime assets strategic importance. Ratnayake’s comments came days after Adani Group withdrew its request for a US governmentbacked loan of $553 million in the wake of the New York indictment.

The loan agreement with the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) was finalised last year.

Adani Group has said it will now finance the project from its own coffers. Last month, US authorities accused Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani and seven others of being part of a $265m (£208.4m) scheme to bribe Indian officials, and of misleading US investors while raising funds there. The ports-to-power conglomerate has termed the allegations “baseless” and said it would seek “all possible legal recourse”.

Dissanayake campaigned against the Adani wind project before his landslide election win in November, and Ratnayake said his government remained opposed to it.

“It would be disadvantageous to the country,” Ratnayake added.

Dissanayake had dubbed the project a threat to Sri Lanka’s energy sovereignty.

India extended more than $4 billion in aid to Sri Lanka when the island nation’s economy plunged into a severe financial crisis in 2022 and entered into a preliminary debt restructuring agreement, along with other bilateral creditors Japan and China, in July.

The two countries will now finalise discussions on the bilateral memorandum of understanding needed to complete the debt restructuring process, the joint statement added.

Dissanayake is expected to travel to Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders in early 2025.

More For You

UK retailers

For many retailers, this has meant closing stores, cutting jobs, and focusing on more profitable business segments

Getty

6 UK retailers facing major store closures in 2025

In 2025, several UK retailers are experiencing major store closures as they struggle to navigate financial pressures, rising operational costs, and changing consumer behaviours. These closures reflect the ongoing challenges faced by traditional brick-and-mortar stores in an increasingly digital world. While some closures are part of larger restructuring efforts, others have been driven by financial instability or market shifts that have forced retailers to rethink their business strategies. Let’s take a closer look at six major UK retailers affected by these trends.

1. Morrisons

Morrisons, one of the UK's largest supermarket chains, is undergoing a significant restructuring in 2025. The company has announced the closure of several in-store services, including 52 cafés, 18 Market Kitchens, 17 convenience stores, and various other departments. This move is part of a larger strategy to streamline operations and address rising costs. Morrisons’ parent company, CD&R, has been focusing on reducing overheads and refocusing on core services.

Keep ReadingShow less
Starmer Trump

The UK is seeking an agreement with the US to remove Trump’s 10 per cent general tariff on goods and the 25 per cent tariff on steel and cars.

Getty Images

Industry warns Starmer: Strike deal with US or face factory job losses

FACTORY owners could begin laying off workers within months unless prime minister Keir Starmer secures a trade agreement with US president Donald Trump, MPs have been told.

Make UK, an industry lobby group, told the business and trade select committee that tariffs on British exports were reducing demand for UK-manufactured goods.

Keep ReadingShow less
British Steel halts layoffs after government rescue plan

Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the rail and sections hot end rolling mill during her visit to the British Steel site on April 17, 2025 in Scunthorpe, England. (Photo by Danny Lawson - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

British Steel halts layoffs after government rescue plan

BRITISH STEEL announced on Tuesday (22) it has halted plans to lay off thousands of workers after the government secured the raw materials necessary to keep the country's last steelmaking blast furnaces running.

The future of the plant was thrown into jeopardy in March when its Chinese owners Jingye said it was no longer financially viable to keep the blast furnaces burning, putting 2,700 jobs at risk.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sainsbury’s

The decision to cut jobs at head office will likely have a significant impact on the workforce

Getty

Sainsbury’s to cut 3,000 jobs and close 3 in-store services

Sainsbury’s has announced plans to cut 3,000 jobs across its operations, along with the closure of three key in-store services. The UK supermarket giant confirmed that the closures will impact its larger stores, with the patisserie, hot food, and pizza counters set to shut down by early summer.

As part of the changes, the most popular items previously sold at these counters will be relocated to other sections of the stores, ensuring customers can still purchase these products despite the closure of the dedicated counters. Additionally, Sainsbury’s will introduce new ‘On The Go’ hubs by autumn, offering hot food options to meet customer demand for convenience.

Keep ReadingShow less
Unsafe ‘energy-saving’ plugs still sold online despite safety concerns

Warnings about similar devices have existed for over a decade

iStock

Unsafe ‘energy-saving’ plugs still sold online despite safety concerns

Plug-in devices marketed as “energy-saving” products are still being sold across online marketplaces in the UK, despite being illegal and failing basic safety tests, according to a new investigation by consumer group Which?.

The study found that several of these cheap devices, often called “eco plugs” or “energy-saving plugs”, not only failed to deliver any energy-saving benefits but also posed potential risks such as fire or electric shock. Some of the products, priced as low as £5, were tested and found to be unsafe for household use.

Keep ReadingShow less