The objective of this review is to report the past development and present status of poultry industry and the important genetic resources in Sri Lanka. Poultry sector considered as a fast growing, well organized livestock subsector in Sri Lanka. Indicating the role of chicken production in the country, in 2007, the government declared poultry meat as an essential food item. Therefore, we discussed in brief the development of poultry sector by providing the important events and key statistics to support the progress of sector. Characteristics of Sri Lankan poultry industry is discussed under the two main category such as back-yard system which has been an integral part of the crop-livestock integrated farming system in the all part of Sri Lanka, and secondly, the commercial production system initiated with full contribution of private sector. More importantly, Sri Lanka holds a high genetic resource and diversity of chicken. Therefore, we address this topic by giving the fact and figures on Ceylon jungle fowl (Gallus lafayettii) a one of the wild ancestor of chicken, inhabit only in Sri Lanka. In addition, village or indigenous chicken population that mainly categorized in to five local ecotypes based on their appearances and farmers’ perception on performance and behavior of birds. On the other hand, some of commercial strains were imported to Sri Lanka in early 1970’s to further development of the industry. In this context, recent introgression of exotic breeds in to local ecotypes and strains which developed by “Central poultry research station (CPRS) Karadagolla” are discussed. Moreover, most of the high producing strains that are used in the commercial production are highlighted. Finally, we discussed the future concerns of Sri Lankan poultry sector.