With both public and private fleet operators adopting this technology, private vehicles will soon follow, giving the market a huge boost
By Richa Chakravarty
Saturday, December 14, 2013: Although global positioning system (GPS) technology is used for navigation, India has only recently woken up to the possibilities of this technology for security purposes. GPS is being largely adopted in India for vehicle tracking systems (VTS), and a large number of projects are being implemented.
The Delhi transport department has recently installed GPS-fitted meters in 45,000 autorickshaws. All DTC buses will also have such devices. Delhi transport division authorises companies approved by Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit System (DIMTS) to install VTS in all vehicles by Delhi Transport Department. Autocop India is one such company approved by DIMTS.
Most logistics and courier services enterprises have installed these devices to track their vehicles. All major cab fleets operating in Tier I and Tier II cities have already assimilated VTS devices (imported from Singapore) in their vehicles. Meru Cabs has more than 3,400 taxis and a corresponding number of VTS devices. But do users get a good ROI? The answer is that they do. Om Logistics, a major logistics company that has been using GPS devices for years, has been saving a considerable amount of money and time with the help of these gadgets, which clearly proclaims that the market for VTS devices has a promising future in India.
A vehicle monitoring system consists of a small hardware device mounted inside the vehicle. The device is actually an on-board computer with GPS and wireless communication capabilities that transfer all relevant information from the vehicle to the fleet management centre. It gives answers to questions like where the vehicle was driven for the last, say, 10 days; where it stopped; how many kilometres it covered, and much more. So once this hardware is installed in a vehicle, one can get live updates about its movement on a computer connected to the Internet and also on a mobile phone through SMS.
Market potential for VTS devices
India has an enormous market for VTS devices. Currently, only 6-7 per cent of that market has adopted GPS-based VTS monitoring devices. In the coming two years, it is expected that almost 70-80 per cent of the vehicles in India will have GPS-based VTS devices. So, the potential for this vertical is huge.
Recently, a number of Indian states including Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (Noida and Ghaziabad) and Haryana have made the use of VTS devices mandatory in public vehicles. At present, in Delhi alone, DTC and cluster buses, besides the new autorickshaws being registered by the transport department, have VTS devices installed. While there are over 8000 chartered buses operating in the city, 55,000 autorickshaws are also plying Delhi’s streets. About 45,000 new autorickshaws are expected to come onto the city’s roads soon. Autos in Chennai will also soon have meters fitted with GPS and a panic button that passengers can press to alert officials during unsafe situations.
Equipping all these vehicles with VTS means a huge opportunity for the VTS device manufacturers as well as for traders.
Car manufacturers like Tata Motors are also launching VTS devices in cars. But players in this space are primarily banking on commercial vehicles as a key driving factor for the VTS market. Some of the players today provide free life time webserver along with Google maps in their VTS device. For example, Autocop provides this facility.
“In India, approximately 6 million commercial vehicles are running but only 600,000 cars use VTS devices. Hence, there is a huge market left untapped,” says Rajeev Sharma, director, KS Technosoft Pvt Ltd. Backed by its in-house design and software unit, the company assembles GPS tracking devices and provides complete solutions to customers.
According to 6Wresearch, the first quarter of 2013 witnessed a total shipment of around 10,308 units of VTS devices in India. “In the last six months, we have witnessed 100 per cent growth in this sector. We are expecting the market for VTS devices to boom in the next two years,” shares Dipesh Agarwal, director, Sonasonic Technologies Pvt Ltd, a total solutions provider for personal as well as vehicle tracking systems.
Says Amit Choudhary, director, Galvanic Infotech Pvt Ltd, “Till date, only 10-15 per cent of the VTS device market has been tapped. Volume wise, the market is still vacant as there is no awareness about the system. All that is required to enhance this market are quality products, awareness of the device’s benefits and strong backend support.” Galvanic Infotech manufactures VTS units under the brand name Balin. The company has registered a growth of 200 per cent last year.
Informs Shrisanka Saha, senior product manager, Autocop India Pvt Ltd, “The market share of organised logistics players is expected to double to approximately 12 per cent by 2015. Owing to this huge growth rate of logistics and supply chain management in India, the demand for VTS devices is increasing. Also, India’s passenger car and commercial vehicle manufacturing industry is the sixth largest in the world, which is another segment that will help in boosting domestic demand for VTS devices.”
GPS monitoring systems are also found in friendship bands, along with a panic button that can be pressed in an emergency, sending alerts to all the numbers fed into the device. VTS tracking devices are also used to monitor school buses.
Noida-based Propress Instrumentation & Solutions has recently launched its GPS tracking system called Pister. “Using the best and the latest GPS module, UP 501, Pister connects through 65 networks, offering good connectivity and accuracy; the devices that are available in the market currently connect to only 25 channels,” informs Shailesh Pandey, director, Propress Instrumentation & Solutions Pvt Ltd. The company’s focus is on R&D and programming, and it is also planning to launch a device for visually impaired people to help them in tracking and locating places.
Seeing the emergence of new applications in this sector, VTS device providers are looking to partner with retail stores and outlets. Currently, customers have to approach companies directly to buy a unit. “For local customers, we offer single unit sales as well, but for outstation orders, we require a minimum order for five devices,” says A Sarkar, proprietor, Digilog Systems, which is one of the few manufacturers of GPS tracking devices based in Kolkata.
Manufacturing: A hindrance
Even though the market for VTS has immense potential, there are only a handful of manufacturers in India and most companies in the domain only assemble products here. Informs Shailesh Pandey, “The initial investment for setting up a manufacturing plant for GPS devices could be anywhere around Rs 100 million. Importing a GPS module, on the other hand, costs around Rs 600 while manufacturing it, domestically, would cost anywhere between Rs 1500-1700.”
Lack of a conducive manufacturing ecosystem is one of the biggest challenges faced by GPS providers in India. Most of the components are not available domestically. Even the basic GPS module is imported from China, thus rendering the product costlier. “The cost of a complete VTS tracking system in India ranges from Rs 7000 to 10,000, whereas the price of Chinese devices starts from Rs 5000,” informs A Sarkar.
Adding to this, Shrisanka Saha shares, “A GPS device belongs to the telematics sector but its applications are in the automotive domain. Due to lack of automotive knowledge most Indian players face challenges in making these devices.” Autocop India has recently launched its latest GPS tracking device called Trackpro. Designed, developed and manufactured in-house, Trackpro can be installed in all vehicles with batteries ranging from 12V to 24V DC.
There are many types of VTS devices available in India—both indigenous as well as imported. However, while in the case of most other electronic devices, imported products offer Indian models fierce competition, domestically produced VTS devices score over their foreign counterparts on vital parameters. The imported ones are of low quality and have limited features. Indian products are robust and more suitable for the Indian environment and market.
Solutions providers of vehicle tracking devices offer the option of active and passive tracking. In active tracking, the device sends a continuous signal on a real time basis, with the help of a cellular or satellite signal but in the case of passive tracking, the record can only be downloaded once the vehicle has reached its destination. The former is more suitable for logistics companies whereas the latter is good for personal use.
| What is a vehicle tracking system? |
| A vehicle tracking system (VTS) is an electronic device installed in a vehicle to enable the owner or a third party to track the vehicle’s location. This device has a built-in sender and receiver, which receives a constant signal from the service provider and, in turn, transmits a signal that indicates its current location to the person who wants to track it. |
It is an important device for those in the logistics vertical, ensuring the safety of goods as the personnel assigned to transport them cannot deviate from the fixed route. Nor can they stop somewhere for too long a period without the knowledge of those tracking the vehicle. The device is also equipped with a feature wherein the vehicle can be immobilised by the trackers if they feel it is going in the wrong direction. GPS devices also provide speed alerts, minimise communication costs and control fuel consumption. They also provide route deviation alerts, mileage tracking, real-time road information, etc.
A vehicle tracking system (VTS) combines the use of automatic vehicle location in individual vehicles with software that collects these fleet data for a comprehensive picture of vehicle locations. Modern vehicle tracking systems commonly use GPS or GLONASS technology for locating the vehicle, but other types of automatic vehicle location technologies can also be used. Vehicle information can be viewed on electronic maps via the Internet or specialised software. Urban public transit authorities are increasingly using vehicle tracking systems, particularly in large cities.
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