Sri Lanka has announced a landmark wage increase for plantation workers, marking a significant salary hike for the community. An agreement signed today at the Ministry of Plantations and Community Infrastructure raises the basic daily wage from 1,350 to 1,550 rupees, with an additional 200 rupees as a daily attendance allowance, taking total daily earnings to 1,750 rupees. The plantation workers are of Indian Origin Tamil heritage who were taken to Sri Lanka from India about 200 years ago to work on plantations and have since remained in the plantation regions of the island.
The decision follows proposals in President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s 2025 budget and prolonged discussions with regional plantation companies. The Sri Lankan government has allocated 5,000 million rupees in the 2026 budget to support the increase. India has consistently supported initiatives aimed at improving the socio-economic conditions of Indian Origin Tamils in Sri Lanka’s plantation sector.
