Sri Lanka will be among the countries that will be benefited by a quiet maritime strategic diplomacy which has emerged as the key theme of this year’s Union budget of India, political observers said.

The Indian ] government has allocated large sums of money — hitherto meant for key neighbouring countries. "Beneficiaries of the Budget are Seychelles, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and Maldives — all island nations in the strategic Indian Ocean region, where India is competing against China for influence," an Indian Express report said. 

"A careful perusal of the Budget allocation for the Ministry of External Affairs reveals that Seychelles has been given Rs 300 crore, up from Rs 200 crore, which was the revised estimate for the current fiscal. The 50 per cent jump is in lieu with the government’s plans to develop the infrastructure of Assumption island, one of the 115 islands of the country,"  it added.

In the union budget this year, the government has allocated Rs 150 crore for Sri Lanka, double of last year.

India is moving for the reconstruction of Sri Lanka’s Kankesanthurai Port. These moves come even as Chinese firms have expanded their footprint in the Indian Ocean region with the Hambantota port project, near Colombo, and the under-construction Gwadar Port in Pakistan.