Sri Lanka and India are seeking to strengthen economic ties through an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA). The ETCA will expand upon the Free Trade Agreement between India and Sri Lanka, which came into operation in 2000. Unlike other deals which focused on goods, the ETCA focuses on services, such as IT and shipyard services. The ETCA is expected to help Sri Lanka attain access to India's supply chain and take advantage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Made in India' initiative to boost manufacturing. The Sri Lankan Ministry of Strategic Development and International Trade has stated that the ETCA will enable Indian manufacturers to build factories in Sri Lanka to export their products to Pakistan, China and other countries in the region. This could potentially reduce the costs of exports. The Indian government is also offering an array of professional services from engineering and telecommunications to construction and transport services. However there have been fears raised within Sri Lanka over the risk of Indian businesses and workers saturating the Sri Lankan market.
