The government of Sri Lanka has advanced its plan for a comprehensive national digital identity system by shortlisting five Indian technology firms as qualified bidders. The companies will compete for the role of Master System Integrator (MSI) to build and develop the Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity (SL-UDI) project.
The five finalists, selected after a pre-qualification round managed by India’s National Institute for Smart Government (NISG), are: Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Protean eGov Technologies, RailTel Corporation of India, and Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL). These firms will now move to the next “techno-commercial” bidding stage to secure the contract.
The SL-UDI project is a cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s digital transformation strategy. It aims to create a secure, unified national identity platform by integrating and digitizing the country’s existing biometric ID card system. The initiative is being developed under the framework of the Modular Open-Source Identity Platform (MOSIP), an open-source project incubated in India. The project is partially funded by a grant of approximately LKR 10.4 billion (around $67.3 million) from the Indian government, reflecting a strategic partnership between the two nations on digital public infrastructure.
The project will be rolled out in phases. The chosen Indian firm will act as the MSI, responsible for the initial development, integration, and deployment of the system. Concurrently, the Sri Lankan government will appoint a local “Managed Service Provider” (MSP) by the end of the year. This local entity will work closely with the MSI during a knowledge-transfer period, estimated to last six months, before taking over the long-term management and operation of the SL-UDI platform.
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake recently announced that the government plans to launch the digital ID system by March 2026, despite any obstacles. Chief Advisor to the President on Digital Economy, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, emphasized that while India will assist in the system setup, all biometric and personal data will remain fully under Sri Lanka’s control, hosted on local servers with no foreign access or external data transfers permitted.
The SL-UDI is intended to serve as the foundational identity layer for a wide range of public and private digital services for all Sri Lankan citizens and residents.
Sources: Daily Mirror Sri Lanka, Sunday Times Sri Lanka.
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
