evidence: To assuage India’s concerns, Sri Lanka has not only tried to balance its relations with India, but also it declared an India first policy in October 2020. Furthermore, the Sri Lankan leadership has realized that India has always stepped in when Sri Lanka needed it, and the relationship with China could not be at the expense of India. [...] To its credit, New Delhi provided Colombo with a $1 billion line of credit for food, medicine and other essential items. India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla recently reiterated that Sri Lanka is a core part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Neighborhood First policy, designed to dilute anti-India sentiment and establish better relationships with states in the region. [...] India needs to recognize the fragility of the situation. As a state with ethnic ties to Sri Lanka, a worsening of the situation in the island could lead to large-scale movement of Sri Lankan nationals to India. Some have already started arriving at the Indian coast. Refugees from the civil war still live in Tamil Nadu state or have integrated into Indian society.