Sri Lanka, May 11 -- The Department of Registration of Persons is awaiting a shipment of 300,000 additional polycarbonate cards from Thales of France 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," Director General of the Department of Registration of Persons M. S. P. Suriyapperuma told Biometric Update. This follows the 700,000 cards the Department received 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 said that Sri Lankan banks are...