India and Smart Technology: the promise of accelerated social and economic development

Every year, the CARTES Event highlights one country among the major emerging countries which offers considerable development prospects in terms of products, solutions and services for the smart security industry (SIM cards, bank cards, secure documents and trusted services). For 2012, CARTES has chosen India. Indeed, identity, payment and mobile phones are major issues for this country which has the second largest population in the world. What major projects are already underway and which ones are in the pipeline? How will smart technologies be part of India's accelerated economic and social development?

The Aam Aamin: Number one preoccupation for digital development projects in India

India is the largest parliamentary democracy in the world, but it is still a largely rural (70% of the population) developing country. The Aam Aamin, which translates from Hindi as 'the common man' is the number one target for development projects established by the government whose aim is to develop social, financial and digital inclusion. In November 2010, the UIDAI (Unique Identity Authority of India) and the RGI (Register of India) jointly launched the Aadhaar project which aims to provide 1,300 million Indians with biometric identity cards. This project, the largest of its kind in the world, has several objectives, among which naturally to recognise the right to identity but also to fight against fraud. By providing a unique and personal identity number, this card will give the population access to services such as health, education, housing and social services. Also, this number will act as a legal address for sending and receiving money, bearing in mind that 45% of the population has neither a bank account nor payment cards. Current developments are being made to set up a platform (Aadhaar Enabled Payment System) able to make financial transactions (debit or credit) with the Aadhaar identification number, as an ISBN, or later a bank card number but without card...

India: a relatively unbanked country

Since January 2011, the Reserve Bank of India has been campaigning for the adoption of chip cards and secure methods of identification for online transactions. To be independant from the international networks, the NPCI (National Payments Corporation) has launched last March the first national interbank network. Named RuPay, this debit card is offered by a dozen banks and can be used online, at 91,000 ATMs and 590,000 payment terminals. The project, started over five years ago, is part of a national programme to build a functioning payment system with interchange fees much lower than those imposed by the large international networks. As well as being an economic and social challenge for a government wanting to ensure the financial inclusion of a large part of the population, in particular in rural areas, RuPay is also a technological challenge that will have to deal with the roll-out of mobile payment.

Broadband Mobile phones: set to become the second largest market in the world within four years

Today, India has more mobile phone owners (678 million in May 2012) than bank card holders (300 million debit, credit and prepaid cards). It is the second SIM card market worldwide after China, with an increase of 31% last year, driven by phones with several SIM card connectors and with 90% prepaid cards. Within four years, this country will represent the second largest world market for mobile broadband with 367 million connections. All this fostered the emergence of mobile payment services (Obopay, Paymate, iMobile) and encouraged the NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) to develop IMPS (Interbank Mobile Payment Service). This service offers the option to transfer money 24/7 using a mobile phone. Transactions are done by SMS or using a downloaded application. To date, 43 banks offer this service.

With its large financial and digital inclusion projects, as well as the biometric identity card project, India offers great opportunities for all payment and digital security players. CARTES 2012 is the opportunity to demonstrate this large market's potential and achievements.

India at CARTES 2012

An Indian pavilion will bring together the main local players in the Indian chip card and identification industry. As for international companies who are already established in India and heavily involved in large projects (such as Giesecke & Devrient, NXP, Gemalto, Infineon, Ingenico and Morpho), they will also be highlighting their achievements at the exhibition. These achievements and technological advances will be presented to delegations of banking and government sector visitors from India, who will have the opportunity to meet with international suppliers.

During the conferences, Indian speakers will share their view of the market and will highlight recent developments and examples of achievements in their country. Finally, a 'networking cocktail' will take place on the last day of the exhibition floor and will be an opportunity to sample the delights of Indian cuisine.

Isabelle Alfano, CARTES Events Manager, is available to answer any questions you may have about CARTES 2012’s main topics.

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About CARTES 2012:

The CARTES 2012 show, taking place from 6 to 8 November at the Parc des Expositions in Paris-Nord Villepinte, is the world's leading event in smart technologies for security, payment, identification and mobility. With 143 countries represented, 450 exhibitors and 140 conferences with international experts, CARTES 2012 is an essential trade show for all the players in this highly dynamic market. This year, for its 27th edition, CARTES 2012 is putting the spotlight on India.