HYDERABAD, INDIA: In a strategic move aimed at consolidating its position in the $62 million smart cards market, Bartronics India Ltd (BIL) launched four products based on smart cards.

These products were launched in the ongoing Smartcards Expo 2008 in New Delhi. "We expect most of the software companies working on embedded systems technology to adopt BIL operating systems over the next two to three years, thereby enabling them to participate in the exploding smart card industry in India," said Sudhir Rao, MD, Bartronics India.

The four products are BIL-BLUE ICE: It can be used for applications ranging from financial inclusion, ePurse applications, loyalty applications and mass transit applications; BIL-COS: Used in driving license / RC book / National ID and RSBY applications; BIL-CAMP: Used for campus applications and BIL-SIM: A phase 2+ compliant SIM card for South Asian GSM operators/service providers.

These products are targeted towards the embedded application developers/software companies and end-users to assist them in developing their applications using smart cards.

According to a recent study, the smart cards industry, growing at a CAGR of almost 30 percent in India, is set for a boom in the coming years.

Smart cards are proliferating into newer areas in the country like national ID, access control, driving license and vehicle registration, e-passport, retail, loyalty, banking and finance, close user group applications, healthcare, transit and fare collection, toll collection and others.