Traze to open RFID manufacturing facility

BANGALORE: Gemini Traze RFID Pvt Ltd will set up India's first RFID tag manufacturing facility at Sriperumbudur Electronic Park in Chennai, with an investment of $2.5 million.

The plant is expected to be operational in October 2006, according to Pradhyumna T Venkat, business head, Gemini Traze RFID.

First among the SAARC nations to set up an RFID tag facility, Gemini Traze plans to roll out 45 million UHF (Ultra High Frequency) tags annually, which can be scaled up to 100 million, said Venkat, speaking on the sidelines of an RFID conference in Bangalore.

He sounded positive when he said that this would slash the cost of RFID tags by a 60 per cent. The cost of RFID tags has been an obstacle to large-scale implementation of RFID technology.

Venkat said, “Currently, there are a lot of overheads with duty and import, which is 40 per cent additional cost on duties levied." Indigenous manufacturing would rid it of the additional costs.

The Rs 10 crore Gemini Traze expects to rake in a majority (close to 78 per cent) of its revenue from its tag business, which has the potential to earn close to Rs 50 crore.

The company is in talks with potential customers and is confident that this move would fuel RFID implementations in the country. However, a majority of its business will initially be from overseas. Venkat said his company has initiated discussions with suppliers to retail major WalMart.

The 100 per cent subsidiary of Gemini Communications Limited, Gemini Traze RFID was launched five years ago and has deployed about 85 RFID implementations in India. The projects involved diverse applications from employee tracking, access control, library management to vehicle tracking and tracking of electronic media such as CDROMs and DVDs.

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