Sri Lanka to roll out e-NIC project by next month

The Department of Registration of Persons is awaiting a shipment of 300,000 additional polycarbonate cards from Thales to implement the Electronic National Identity Card (e-NIC) project, officials said.

“We have procured them from Thales, and we still need 500,000 more cards.” M.S.P. Suriyapperuma, director general of the Department of Registration of Persons, told Biometric Update on Thursday. This follows the 700,000 cards the department received in in March from Thales.

e-NICs will incorporate biometrics into the system. These e-NICs will feature biometric data, including fingerprint, iris, and facial recognition, to enhance security and efficiency in identity verification.

Suriyapperuma stated that Sri Lankan banks are currently accessing the repository and verifying specific client details, and some banks have completed their projects to be in line with this project to be implemented by June.

She further added that the intention is to integrate the Sri Lanka Unique Digital ID project with the e-NIC.

The e-NICs will assign unique identification numbers, consolidate various identification types, and capture data such as birth certificates and tax identification information. Suriyapperuma stated that digitization enables data collection, and data-driven policy initiatives are important to achieve desired outcomes.

Officials at the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka said that more and more awareness programmes are held in different state institutions, and some will also be directed at private institutions to be in line with the e-NIC project.

Sri Lanka conducting user and security testing for biometric identity card project

Article Topics

biometric identifiers  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  e-ID  |  SL-UDI (Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity)  |  Sri Lanka  |  Thales Digital Identity and Security