• India agreed to provide Rs. 10 b to create digital NIC

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that 2,300 centres will be established across the country to gather information required for the digital National Identity Card (NIC).

While addressing a gathering in the Thambuttegama area, the President emphasised that the digital NIC will simplify transactions with financial institutions and enable tax payments.

President Dissanayake said: “Our NIC is outdated now. You have to carry the NIC as a card and your face as well. The face will be checked to confirm whether it matches the person on the NIC. Those were things done in the past. It’s not like that now. With a digital NIC, you can simply scan it. You can pay taxes and perform all transactions, including those with banks. India has agreed to provide Rs. 10 billion in aid to create the digital NIC.” 

The President also added: “People say that India is going to steal data, but nothing like that will happen. We had a workshop on 24 January with the leading experts in Sri Lanka on data-related science.”

The President also said that 2,300 centres were being built in villages across the country to collect data. However, he explained that when it comes to entering the data, the Indian company will step away, and that from that point onwards, the data will be with the Sri Lankan authorities.