Sri Lanka Frontier
South Asia · Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte · LKR (Sri Lankan Rupee)
Economy & industry overview
Sri Lanka is a lower-middle-income island economy in South Asia, with a nominal GDP of approximately $99 billion in 2024, recovering strongly after a severe debt crisis and sovereign default in 2022. The economy is driven by services including tourism, finance, and logistics, as well as manufacturing, tea and rubber exports, and remittances from overseas workers. Real GDP rebounded by 5 percent in 2024 following two consecutive years of contraction, supported by an IMF-backed adjustment program and successful external debt restructuring completed in late 2024. The Colombo Stock Exchange lists close to 290 companies spanning banking, diversified conglomerates, consumer goods, plantations, and telecommunications. Key structural challenges include a high public debt burden, external vulnerability, and ongoing fiscal consolidation under IMF programme conditionality.
Key sectors
Learn everything about Sri Lanka →Macro
| GDP nominal, USD | $98.96B |
| GDP growth real, annual | 5.0% |
| Inflation annual | 0.5% |
| Population people | 22.2M |
| GDP per capita USD | $4,516 |
| Market cap total listed, USD | $30.94B |
| Market cap / GDP | 31.3% |
| Unemployment | 4.5% |
| Listed companies | 286 |
| Exchange | Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) |
Primary data year: 2024. Sources: IMF World Economic Outlook April 2026, World Bank World Development Indicators 2024, Colombo Stock Exchange official statistics, MSCI Market Classification Framework June 2025, MSCI Sri Lanka Index Factsheet, SSE Initiative CSE profile, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Wikipedia List of Sri Lankan public corporations by market capitalisation. Individual figures may cover different reference periods — for example a fiscal year, or an estimate for the current year — and the overview above states these where known.
Latest news
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Other South Asia markets
India
Pakistan
BangladeshLargest listed companies
The biggest companies on the main local exchange, by market capitalisation. Where a foreign company holds a secondary listing here, it is shown after the domestic companies.
| # | Company | Sector | Market capUSD | US listing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Keells Holdings PLCJKH.N0000 · CSE | Diversified Conglomerates | $1.05B | — |
| 2 | Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLCCOMB.N0000 · CSE | Banking | $740.00M | — |
| 3 | Sampath Bank PLCSAMP.N0000 · CSE | Banking | $530.00M | — |
| 4 | Hatton National Bank PLCHNB.N0000 · CSE | Banking | $490.00M | — |
| 5 | Dialog Axiata PLCDIAL.N0000 · CSE | Telecommunications | $460.00M | — |
| 6 | Melstacorp PLCMELS.N0000 · CSE | Diversified Conglomerates | $420.00M | — |
| 7 | Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka PLCDIST.N0000 · CSE | Food, Beverage & Tobacco | $380.00M | — |
| 8 | Ceylon Tobacco Company PLCCTC.N0000 · CSE | Food, Beverage & Tobacco | $350.00M | — |
| 9 | Hayleys PLCHAYL.N0000 · CSE | Diversified Conglomerates | $320.00M | — |
| 10 | Ceylinco Insurance PLC (Ceylinco Holdings)CINS.N0000 · CSE | Insurance | $310.00M | — |
| 11 | Aitken Spence PLCSPEN.N0000 · CSE | Diversified Conglomerates | $290.00M | — |
| 12 | Lanka IOC PLCLIOC.N0000 · CSE | Energy & Petroleum | $280.00M | — |
| 13 | Vallibel One PLCVONE.N0000 · CSE | Diversified Conglomerates | $270.00M | — |
| 14 | Bukit Darah PLCBUKI.N0000 · CSE | Diversified Conglomerates | $250.00M | — |
| 15 | Carson Cumberbatch PLCCARS.N0000 · CSE | Diversified Conglomerates | $230.00M | — |
| 16 | Softlogic Holdings PLCSHL.N0000 · CSE | Diversified Conglomerates | $220.00M | — |
| 17 | Ceylon Cold Stores PLCCCS.N0000 · CSE | Food, Beverage & Consumer | $210.00M | — |
| 18 | National Development Bank PLCNDB.N0000 · CSE | Banking | $200.00M | — |
| 19 | Hemas Holdings PLCHMS.N0000 · CSE | Healthcare / Consumer / Logistics | $200.00M | — |
| 20 | DFCC Bank PLCDFCC.N0000 · CSE | Banking | $185.00M | — |
| 21 | Nations Trust Bank PLCNTB.N0000 · CSE | Banking | $175.00M | — |
| 22 | Royal Ceramics Lanka PLCRCL.N0000 · CSE | Construction Materials | $165.00M | — |
| 23 | Asiri Hospital Holdings PLCASIR.N0000 · CSE | Healthcare | $155.00M | — |
| 24 | Sunshine Holdings PLCSUN.N0000 · CSE | Food, Beverage & Tobacco / Healthcare | $118.00M | — |
| 25 | Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company PLCDIST.X0000 · CSE | Food, Beverage & Tobacco | $115.00M | — |
| 26 | Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLCLLUB.N0000 · CSE | Materials / Energy | $110.00M | — |
| 27 | Overseas Realty (Ceylon) PLCOSEA.N0000 · CSE | Real Estate | $98.00M | — |
| 28 | CIC Holdings PLCCIC.N0000 · CSE | Agriculture / Chemicals | $95.00M | — |
| 29 | Haycarb PLCHAYC.N0000 · CSE | Materials / Export Manufacturing | $90.00M | — |
| 30 | Lanka Tiles PLCTILE.N0000 · CSE | Construction Materials | $80.00M | — |
US-traded ETFs
Funds listed in the US that give exposure to this market, the simplest route for many US investors.
Local exchange & access
| Exchange | Colombo Stock Exchange |
| Code | CSE |
| Website | www.cse.lk |
| Currency | LKR |
Local broker access
Foreign investors may trade on the Colombo Stock Exchange by opening a Securities Investment Account (SIA) through a licensed stockbroker and a Inward Investment Account (IIA) through a commercial bank for currency conversion. A number of domestic licensed stockbrokers offer online trading platforms; international access is typically arranged via global custodians or frontier-market specialist brokers. Repatriation of capital and income is generally permitted subject to exchange control regulations administered by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
Global brokers with foreign-market access
- Interactive Brokers — Direct access to 90+ markets worldwide, including many emerging exchanges.
- Saxo Bank — Multi-market access across Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
- Charles Schwab (Global) — Foreign ordinary shares on select markets; US-listed ADRs and ETFs.
- Fidelity International Trading — International stock trading on a number of developed and emerging markets.
Listed for convenience only. Not a recommendation. Available markets, fees and onboarding rules differ by broker and by your country of residence.
Relocation & residency
Foreign-investor access
Sri Lanka does not operate a formal golden visa or residency-by-investment programme as of 2025. Foreign nationals may obtain long-stay visas or residence permits through employment, business activity, or retirement categories administered by the Department of Immigration and Emigration, but no structured investment threshold automatically confers residency or citizenship rights.
US-listed ADRs & cross-listings
Companies from this country whose shares also trade in the US, investable in a normal US brokerage account.
| Company | US ticker | Local ticker | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| No Sri Lankan company currently maintains a sponsored ADR programme on a major US exchange. | — | Sri Lankan companies are not known to have active sponsored ADR or NYSE/Nasdaq cross-listings as of 2025. International investors typically access CSE-listed equities directly through the Securities Investment Account structure or via frontier-market pooled vehicles. |