Final approval from the Indian government is imminent for onboarding the master systems provider on the Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity, Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Santosh Jha said, with TCS, Infosys and Protean in final evaluations for the role.
“It is right on track, and the final approvals are being awaited,” Jha told the Sunday Times on the sidelines of the India Calling business event organised by the Lanka India Business Association. Digital Ministry officials confirmed to the paper that final procedural formalities continue despite earlier financial gaps in the procurement, where bids from master system integrators surpassed initial allocations.
The SLUDI platform is built on the Modular Open-Source Identity Platform, or MOSIP, an open-source stack that mirrors the foundational structure of India’s Aadhaar system for securing biometric data. The project is backed partially through Indian grant assistance, and Jha described the long-awaited programme as nearing its launch phase.
At a fireside chat on economic integration and collaboration in AI and technology, Jha framed the project within India’s wider digital cooperation, saying digital identity had strengthened India’s social safety net. “This means that with the digital identity, we have managed to reduce poverty and, in some places, eradicate it. This has been possible largely on the digital platform that we have built,” he said. He noted that start-ups in India have been built on the backbone of Aadhaar, and said an incubator-accelerator relationship is being developed between Kerala start-ups and Sri Lanka.
The High Commissioner said Indian-linked investments made up 50 percent of Sri Lanka’s total foreign direct investment inflows in the previous year, with India also the country’s largest trading partner, primary source of tourists and a major foreign investor. He described the India-Sri Lanka relationship as the best it has ever been, pointing to deepening connectivity and free trade agreement partnerships at the event, which drew business leaders, policymakers and investors.
Sri Lanka targeted an end-March selection of the master systems integrator for the India-funded programme, and Jha said in July that SLUDI was ready to launch pending the final steps.
Sources: The Sunday Times
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By Ali Nassar-Smith
