A key player in this area is Madras Security Printers.

MSP: Smart card master printer  
An offshoot of Chennai-based Eagle Press, 25-year-old Madras Security Printers (MSP) is a pioneer in specialised smartcard and security printing activities in the country. The company has executed several e-governance projects for both the Central and the state governments, including e-PDS cards and voter ID cards in Tamil Nadu.

“We deliver end-to-end turnkey smart card based e-governance solutions,” said V Suresh, marketing manager, MSP. This involves collecting individual information about the beneficiaries, processing the data, printing the cards and then delivering them to the beneficiaries, all within a stipulated period of time.   

“We cater to smart card, security printing needs of various government ministries, revenue authorities, immigration departments, banking sectors, electoral commission, GSM operators, postal departments and corporate offices across the globe,” Suresh added.

MSP has been approved by Reserve Bank of India, banking associations and Visa and Master Cards. Stressing that future is plastic, Suresh added, “The cards we produce, on PVC substrate with a chip, contains all the information, and can be used for identification.” He said the company received special appreciation from the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for their exemplary work.

Security print estimates

“In view of the current rate of growth in technology applications, these estimates appear to be on the lower side, yet are indicative of the Indian potential,” said S Swarn, chief executive officer, Electronics Today, the organisers of SmartCards Expo 2014.

“Starting with pilot projects in the mid-1990s and passing through a phase of mini projects, smart card applications in India have now proliferated into multiple large projects. In addition to SIM card for mobile phones, the only smart card app in 1997, government of India has launched a number of large socio-economic projects based on smart card,” Swarn added.

Electronics Today, a techno-economics electronics monthly, launched in 1968. The expo, which was launched in 1999, has since emerged as No 1 smart card exhibition in Asia and No 2 in the world. The event was sponsored by the department of electronics and information technology, government of India.