India and Sri Lanka agree to consider building a land link between them, they say during President Ranil Wickremesinghe's first visit to the regional powerhouse, as Chinese influence grows on his island.

Feasibility studies on a land bridge and a petroleum pipeline will be carried out, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tells a joint presser.

Wickremesinghe's two-day visit to New Delhi comes a year after he became president following the toppling of his predecessor during an unprecedented economic crisis.