IANA tz database · zone identifier

Asia/Colombo

The IANA tz database identifier for India Standard Time in Sri Lanka. Store this string — not the abbreviation, not the offset — and your timestamps stay correct forever.

UTC+05:30Abbreviation +0530No DST — never observed

Time in Asia/Colombo☾ Night

04:25:03

Thursday, July 16, 2026

Offset

UTC+05:30

Abbreviation

+0530

DST

No DST

Current offset

UTC+05:30

same year-round

Abbreviation

+0530

tzdb uses numeric abbreviations here

DST behaviour

Never

has never observed daylight saving

Country

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka

ISO 3166: LK · view country page →

Using this identifier

The string to put in your code.

Asia/Colombo is the identifier to use in code and config for this region. Every modern language, database, and OS resolves it through the same tz database, so the examples here behave identically everywhere.

Avoid storing +0530 or +05:30 — abbreviations are ambiguous and fixed offsets can't follow rule changes.

// format a date in this zone

new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', {

timeZone: 'Asia/Colombo',

dateStyle: 'full', timeStyle: 'long'

}).format(new Date());

Offset & DST behaviour

One offset,
20 years.

Asia/Colombo has kept UTC+05:30 year-round since 15 April 2006 — no daylight saving and no offset changes on record since. It is among the most stable identifiers in the database.

Every offset this zone has kept

Keeping this offset since

15 April 2006

Next transition

None scheduled

no DST rules exist for this zone

Safe to assume

Local = UTC + 5:30h, always

…but store the identifier anyway

Technical record

The database entry, in full.

source: IANA tz database

IdentifierAsia/Colombo

ISO country codeLK🇱🇰 Sri Lanka

Reference coordinates6.93°N, 79.85°Etz database reference point

Standard offsetUTC+05:30abbreviation +0530

Daylight offset—daylight saving has never been observed

Where it applies

All of Sri Lanka, one clock.

Looking for travel-friendly info? See Colombo or India Standard Time.

🇱🇰

Sri Lanka

21M people, one time zone. The whole country resolves to Asia/Colombo.

🇱🇰 Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte

04:25

04:25:03 · +0530

pop. 116KIST

Related identifiers

Nearby in the database.

Same zone group · India Standard Time

other identifiers keeping IST

Asia/KolkataIndia

Frequently asked questions

Answers specific to this identifier — generated from the database record. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].

What UTC offset is Asia/Colombo?: Asia/Colombo is UTC+05:30, year-round. The offset never changes because the zone does not observe daylight saving time.
Does Asia/Colombo observe daylight saving time?: No. Asia/Colombo has never observed DST — it has kept UTC+05:30 continuously since 15 April 2006.
Which country uses Asia/Colombo?: Sri Lanka. The identifier covers the whole country.
Is Asia/Colombo the same as IST?: Asia/Colombo is one of the IANA zones that keeps India Standard Time (IST). Use Asia/Colombo in software — IST is a human-friendly label, not a valid identifier.

Free · Developer API

This zone, as JSON.

Everything on this page — offset, abbreviation, DST rules, coordinates — from one endpoint, always current with the latest tzdb release.

GET /v1/timezones Live

countries, cities, convert, DST transitions coming next.

Get your free API key →

// this identifier, resolved live

GET /v1/timezones?iana=Asia/Colombo

{

"iana": "Asia/Colombo",

"utc_offset": "+05:30",

"abbreviation": "+0530",

"observes_dst": false,

"country": "LK"

}