Sri Lanka, historically known as Ceylon, and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian peninsula by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. It shares a maritime border with the Maldives in the southwest and India in the northwest.
The mixed economy of Sri Lanka was worth 27.60 LKR trillion by gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023 and $318 billion by purchasing power parity (PPP). The country had experienced an annual growth of 6.4 percent from 2003 to 2012, well above its regional peers. This growth was driven by the growth of non-tradable sectors, which the World Bank warned to be both unsustainable and unequitable. Growth has slowed since then.In 2022, Sri Lanka faced a severe economic crisis, characterized by a high inflation, and political instability However, the country stabilized faster than expected in 2023 due to key economic reforms and fiscal discipline. By 2024, Sri Lanka re-entered the path of economic growth, with renewed focus on sustainable and equitable development
The Tamils, also known as the Tamilar, are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Tamil language is one of the longest-surviving classical languages, with over two thousand years of written history, dating back to the Sangam period. Tamils constitute about 5.7% of the Indian population and form the majority in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. They also form significant proportion of the population in Sri Lanka (15.3%), Malaysia (7%) and Singapore (5%). Tamils have migrated world-wide since the 19th century CE and a significant population exists in South Africa, Mauritius, Fiji, as well as other regions such as the Southeast Asia, Middle East, Caribbean and parts of the Western World.
The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, nicknamed The Lions, represents Sri Lanka in men's international cricket. It is a full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test, One-Day International (ODI) and T20 International (T20I) status. The team first played first class cricket in 1926–27 and became an associate member of the ICC in 1965. They made their international debut in the 1975 Cricket World Cup and were later awarded the Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket-playing nation. The team is administered by Sri Lanka Cricket.
Foreign relations of Sri Lanka refers to the diplomatic and commercial relations between Sri Lanka and other countries. Sri Lanka has stressed its principle of "friendship towards all, enmity towards none" in its diplomacy.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the sixth President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022; the Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2004 and 2018 to 2019, and the Minister of Finance from 2005 to 2015 and 2019 to 2021.
The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) is an Indian hospitality company that manages a portfolio of hotels, resorts, jungle safaris, palaces, spas and in-flight catering services. The company is part of India's Tata Group. IHCL was founded in 1902 by Jamsetji Tata and is headquartered in Mumbai where its flagship hotel Taj Mahal Palace Hotel is also located. The company's hotel chains include Taj, SeleQtions, Vivanta, and Ginger.
Jacqueline Genevieve Fernandez is a Sri Lankan actress based in India. She has worked in Indian films, predominantly in Hindi, besides appearing in reality shows and music videos. Fernandez was born and raised in Bahrain. After graduating in mass communication from the University of Sydney and working as a television reporter in Sri Lanka, she joined the modeling industry. She was crowned Miss Universe Sri Lanka in 2006, and represented her country at Miss Universe 2006.
Jubilant FoodWorks Limited is an Indian food service company based in Noida, which holds the master franchise for Domino's Pizza in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, for Popeyes in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan, and also for Dunkin' Donuts in India. The company also operates two homegrown restaurant brands called Ekdum! and Hong's Kitchen. Jubilant FoodWorks is a part of the Jubilant Bhartia Group, owned by Shyam Sunder Bhartia and Hari Bhartia.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar Singh is an Indian international cricketer who played for the Indian cricket team from 2012 to 2022. He currently plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League and Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket. A right-arm medium bowler, he is known by the nickname "Swing King" for his ability to swing the ball both ways efficiently, with his inswingers more effective than outswingers. Initially starting his career as an opening swing bowler, Kumar upgraded his bowling armoury with reverse swing, slower balls and yorkers to become a death over specialist. With India, Kumar won the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. He became the first bowler to win a Purple Cap of IPL in two consecutive seasons.
Kannur Lokesh Rahul is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national team and plays for Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League. A right-handed wicket-keeper batter, he plays for Karnataka in domestic cricket.
Bangalore Days is a 2014 Indian Malayalam-language coming of age romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Anjali Menon, and produced by Anwar Rasheed and Sophia Paul under the banner Anwar Rasheed Entertainments and Weekend Blockbusters. The film features an ensemble cast of Dulquer Salmaan, Nivin Pauly, Fahadh Faasil, Nazriya Nazim, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Isha Talwar and Paris Laxmi, with Nithya Menen in a cameo appearance.
Indian Oil Corporation Limited, trading as Indian Oil, is an Indian multinational oil and gas company under the ownership of Government of India and administrative control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It is a public sector undertaking which is registered in Mumbai but headquartered in New Delhi. It is the largest government-owned oil producer in the country both in terms of capacity and revenue. It has consolidated refining capacity of 80.55MMTPA.
Pinnaduwage Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva, better known as Wanindu Hasaranga, is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer who currently plays limited over internationals and a former T20I captain. He plays for the Sri Lanka cricket team in white ball cricket as a Bowling All rounder.
The Lanka Premier League is a professional franchise cricket league established in 2020 in Sri Lanka. Matches are played using the Twenty20 cricket format by five teams named after Sri Lankan cities. The league was intended to commence in 2018, but repeatedly postponed by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). The inaugural edition took place in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Devdutt Padikkal is an Indian international cricketer who has represented the Indian cricket team. He plays for Karnataka in domestic cricket and has appeared for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He made his India debut in July 2021 in a T20I against Sri Lanka. He has also played for the India under-19 team.
Sunder "Ashok" Genomal is a British-Indian businessperson, billionaire and MD of Page Industries, a Bangalore-headquartered garment company, founded in 1994. His company, Page Industries is one of the largest licensees in the world for underwear maker Jockey. As of 2019, Genomal has been ranked by Forbes as the 73rd wealthiest Indian, with an estimated net worth of approximately $1.9 billion. He was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2017.
The 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka was the meeting of the Parliament of Sri Lanka with its membership determined by the results of the 2020 parliamentary election held on 5 August 2020. The parliament met for the first time on 20 August 2020 and was dissolved on 24 September 2024.
The 2024 Sri Lankan presidential election was the ninth presidential election in the country’s history and was held on 21 September 2024. Incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe ran for re-election as an independent candidate, making him the first sitting president to run for re-election since Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2015. Other prominent candidates included Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa, Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the NPP, and Namal Rajapaksa, son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
₹4,601 crore (US$550 million) (FY24) [2] 
