Asia · Southern Asia · Sovereign state
Current time in Sri Lanka
A single time zone at UTC+05:30.
Thursday, October 15, 2026
About Sri Lanka's time
A single time zone.
Sri Lanka uses a single time zone across the entire country, set to UTC+5:30. It is the same offset as India, which makes coordination with its neighbor easy.
Major cities
Cities of Sri Lanka.
History
How Sri Lanka keeps time.
Sri Lanka adopted UTC+5:30 in 1906. During the Second World War its clocks were moved ahead, to UTC+6:00 in January 1942 and UTC+6:30 later that year, before returning to UTC+5:30 in October 1945. In May 1996, amid a power crisis, clocks were moved to UTC+6:30, then set back to UTC+6:00 that October. Sri Lanka stayed on UTC+6:00 for nearly ten years until returning to UTC+5:30 on April 15, 2006, to match India again.
Convert
Sri Lanka to the world's clocks.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Sri Lanka's time zone, daylight saving rules, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].
- Is Sri Lanka in the same time zone as India?
- Yes, Sri Lanka uses UTC+5:30, exactly the same as Indian Standard Time (IST), so clocks are synchronized across both countries.
- Does Sri Lanka observe daylight saving time?
- No, Sri Lanka does not observe daylight saving time. It did run its clocks ahead of UTC+5:30 from 1996 to 2006, but that was a year-round change, not seasonal DST.
- What time is it in Sri Lanka?
- Sri Lanka is on UTC+5:30 all year, the same as India Standard Time. The live clock on this page shows the current local time.
- Are there multiple time zones in Sri Lanka?
- No, the whole country follows a single time zone, UTC+5:30.
- Is Sri Lanka the same time as Bangladesh?
- No. Bangladesh uses UTC+6:00, so it is 30 minutes ahead of Sri Lanka all year.
Source: IANA tzdb2026d · Reviewed
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