Skidata forms JV with Mumbai's Hinditron

Austria-based Skidata AG, a part of the Swiss francs 1-billion (around Rs 4,400 crore) Kudelski Group of Switzerland, has formed a joint venture (JV) with Mumbai-based Hinditron group to provide access technology for cars and people in India.

Skidata will have a 49 per cent stake in the company, Skidata India, with Hinditron owning the remaining 51 per cent. Hinditron Group, with a turnover of Rs 350 crore, has a presence in scientific instrumentation, telecommunications and IT & IT-enabled Services.

Skidata also has an option to gain a majority stake of Skidata India by acquiring a further 2 per cent from Hinditron over the next two years. The JV will focus on the domestic market and Saarc region.

Access points are usually where people enter locations from. For example, a car access point is usually where people park their cars and occasionally where public transport drops people off. The global car access management market is pegged at Rs 2,000 crore.

Apart from technology solutions, the company is building a central monitoring support system for its customers across India, for which it is spending close to Rs 7-8 crore.

Some of the clients that Skidata India has already signed on are the international airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad, Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai, Inorbit Mall in Mumbai and DLF's premium projects in Delhi, among others.

Over a period of time, the joint venture will also set up a research and development centre and eventually look at final testing of products being sent to India.

"We had entered into a partnership with Skidata in 2007. But this JV takes that a step forward. We think that the overall market capital of the JV would be around Rs 100 crore. For this year, we are targeting a revenue of Rs 50-70 crore for the JV," said Nimish Sonawala, Managing Director, Skidata India. The access solution market in India is expected to reach Rs 600 crore.

"We have recently signed up with the BCCI for the IPL matches. We are also in talks for providing people access technology at sports events like the Commonwealth Games, National Games as well as the upcoming winter games," added Sonawala.

The company is also in talks with IT firms like TCS and Tech Mahindra to partner for these products. According to Sonawala, deploying an access system for a stadium would be worth around Rs 7-9 crore, while for an airport it would be around Rs 20-25 crore. But the services component would be substantial.