List of high commissioners of India to Sri Lanka

The High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, formerly the High Commissioner of India to Ceylon, is the chief diplomatic representative of India to Sri Lanka. The high commission is located in Colombo.

History

India's diplomatic mission to the Dominion of Ceylon was created following India's independence in 1947. Since both nations became part of the Commonwealth of Nations, the diplomatic mission was designated as a high commission, rather than an embassy. V. V. Giri was appointed as the inaugural high commissioner by Governor-General Lord Mountbatten and remained in office until 1951.

Following Ceylon's becoming a republic in 1972, the mission was re-designated to Sri Lanka and the position was renamed to as the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka.

List

• Ref:

Template:Abbr	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Appointer (Head of state)	Notes
1	File:President V. V. Giri.jpg	V. V. Giri	1947	1951	Lord Mountbatten	Later President of India (1969Template:Ndash1974)
2	File:K. P. Kesava Menon (1937).jpg	K. P. Kesava Menon	1951	1952	Rajendra Prasad
3	File:Chandulal Chunilal Desai.jpg	Chandulal Chunilal Desai	1953	1954		Later Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha (1967Template:Ndash1973)
4	File:Birendra Narayan Chakravarty photo.jpg	Birendra Narayan Chakraborty, Template:Post-nominals	1955	1956		Later Governor of Haryana (1967Template:Ndash1976)
5	File:Y. D. Gundevia.jpg	Y. D. Gundevia, Template:Post-nominals	1957	1960		First term; later Foreign Secretary (1963Template:Ndash1965)
6		B. K. Kapur, Template:Post-nominals	1960	1964
7	File:Bhim Sen Sachar.png	Bhim Sen Sachar	1964	1967	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	Formerly Chief Minister of Punjab (1949; 1952Template:Ndash1956); Governor of Orissa (1956Template:Ndash1957) and Andhra Pradesh (1957Template:Ndash1962)
(5)	File:Y. D. Gundevia.jpg	Y. D. Gundevia, Template:Post-nominals	1967	1969		Second term; formerly Foreign Secretary
8		Yogendra Krishna Puri, Template:Post-nominals	1969	1972	V. V. Giri
9		V. C. Coelho, Template:Post-nominals	1973	1975
10		Gurbachan Singh, Template:Post-nominals	1975	1978	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
11		Thomas Abraham, Template:Post-nominals	1978	1982	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
12		Surbir Jit Singh Chhatwal, Template:Post-nominals	1982	1985	Zail Singh
13		Jyotindra Nath Dixit, Template:Post-nominals	1985	1989Template:Efn-lg		Later Foreign Secretary (1991Template:Ndash1994); and National Security Advisor (2004Template:Ndash2005)
14		Lakhan Lal Mehrotra, Template:Post-nominals	1989	1990	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
15		Nagendra Nath Jha, Template:Post-nominals	1990	1993		Later Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands (2001Template:Ndash2004); and Lieutenant Governor of Pondicherry (2004)
16		Nareshwar Dayal, Template:Post-nominals	1993	1997	Shankar Dayal Sharma
17	File:Msc2011 SZ 004 Menon (cropped).jpg	Shivshankar Menon, Template:Post-nominals	1997	2000Template:Efn-lg	K. R. Narayanan	Later Foreign Secretary (2006Template:Ndash2009); and National Security Advisor (2010Template:Ndash2014)
18	File:Gopalkrishna Gandhi - Chatham House 2010 (cropped).jpg	Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Template:Post-nominals	2000	2002Template:Efn-lg		Formerly Secretary to the President of India (1997–2000); and later Governor of West Bengal (2004Template:Ndash2009)
19		Nirupem Sen, Template:Post-nominals	2002	2004Template:Efn-lg
20	File:Nirupama Rao (cropped).jpg	Nirupama Rao, Template:Post-nominals	2004	2006Template:Efn-lg	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam	Later Foreign Secretary (2009Template:Ndash2011)
21		Alok Prasad, Template:Post-nominals	2006	2009		Later Deputy National Security Advisor (2009Template:Ndash2011)
22		Ashok Kantha, Template:Post-nominals	2009	2013Template:Efn-lg	Pratibha Patil
23	File:YashvardhanKumarSinha.jpg	Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha, Template:Post-nominals	2013	2016Template:Efn-lg	Pranab Mukherjee	Later Chief Information Commissioner (2020Template:Ndash2023)
24	File:India Artemis Accords Signing (NHQ202306210057, cropped).jpg	Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Template:Post-nominals	2017	2020Template:Efn-lg
25	File:Gopal Bagalay 2024 (cropped).jpg	Gopal Bagalay, Template:Post-nominals	2020	2023Template:Efn-lg	Ram Nath Kovind
26	File:Santosh Jha diplomat (cropped).jpg	Santosh Jha, Template:Post-nominals	2023	Incumbent	Droupadi Murmu