Sri Lanka’s biometric hardware market to grow with SL-UDI

Sri Lanka’s biometric hardware market is poised for growth with the implementation of Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity (SL-UDI) by the government, top government officials tells Biometric Update. Implementation of digital public infrastructure (DPI) and rolling out national digital ID will provide many key government services online, with the support of tech companies in foreign countries.

“The biometric market is slated to grow with the arrival of the digital ID. While the Department of Registration of Persons will be capturing the data, institutions such as banks and financial companies will need to have biometric hardware for validation,” according to Sumudu Ratnayake, Advisor, Ministry of Digital Economy.

Eranga Weeraratne, Deputy Minister of Digital Economy added that most often financial institutions take individuals’ fingerprints on paper for account opening, etc. but with the digital IDs implementation, institutions will need to procure biometric hardware. He also highlighted the importance of the after-sales service of this equipment.

Already, the Ministry of Digital Economy has received inquiries on the implementation of digital hardware by several Sri Lankan firms, acting as agents for Chinese and Indian biometric hardware companies.

A marketing general manager for a multinational company dealing in biometric hardware in Sri Lanka noted that the country’s biometrics industry is growing at a high rate. “The digital users are growing. The speed of increase in the biometric industry has doubled in the last few years,” he told Biometric Update.

Sri Lanka currently has about 25 to 30 big players in biometric hardware. “They do repeat purchases from countries such as China and India. However, there are also single container orders done by at least 300 importers,” an analyst at a major commercial bank in Sri Lanka said.

By implementing this comprehensive biometric-based digital ID system, we’ll revolutionize how identity verification works nationwide, Weeraratna said. “This centralized solution will eliminate redundancy, enhance security, and streamline access to essential services like driver’s licensing.”

The national ID system’s integration across all identity-dependent applications ensures efficiency and reliability for every citizen, he added.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  government purchasing  |  identity verification  |  SL-UDI  |  Sri Lanka