This study investigates the δ13C values of Middle Miocene–Modern drift deposits and periplatform sediments in the Maldives and compares these data with the global δ13C values derived from bulk oceanic sediments and foraminifera. This comparison reveals that while the δ13C values of the early Miocene periplatform sediments in the Maldives appear to track the global record of δ13C values, including increases associated with the Oligocene–Miocene boundary as well as the variations within the Monterey Event, the correlation with the Monterey Event may be coincidental. It is suggested that variations in δ13C values do not reflect changes in oceanic dissolved inorganic carbon, but instead pulses of sediment arising from platform progradation that contribute carbonates with elevated δ13C values derived from the adjacent shallow-water atolls. This conclusion is supported both by correlations between the seismic sequence architecture and the δ13C values which document progradation of 13C-rich platform sediments, and also by the continuation of the interval of 13C-rich sediments past the end of the Monterey Event at 13 Ma within the drift.