The present work was carried out to improve the as-built surface properties of direct metal laser sintered (DMLS) stainless steel AISI 316 L by plasma spray zirconia coating. Layer wise fusion of powder particles in DMLS process led to the nucleation of austenite phases in which the grain boundaries were overlapped each other. The as-built surface morphology exhibited partly fused powder particles on the final layer of laser scan. In order to achieve better surface properties, 100 μm thin layer of zirconia was deposited on the as-built surface. Plasma spray zirconia coating resulted in better surface morphology and led to the disappearance of surface defects. Nano indentation analysis proved substantial enhancement in the surface hardness which exhibited 3942 MPa and 9655 MPa for the substrate and coated layer respectively. Also, zirconia coating headed to significant improvement in the electro chemical corrosion resistance than the substrate which was proven by reduction in the corrosion rate to a percentage of 78.89% in a phosphate buffered saline (PBS) medium. © 2019 IOP Publishing Ltd.