NEC looks to tap smart digital space in India, eyes $1 bn revenue in 5 yrs

Japan-based NEC Corporation, which was also involved in Aaadhaar implementation programme in India, is looking to tap opportunities in smart digital solutions space in the country and has set a revenue target of $1 billion in five years from here, according to a company official.

Besides, the IT solutions provider is betting big on the cyber security segment in view of ever-rising incidents of cyberthreats.

NEC Corporation contributed to the implementation of Aadhaar Programme in India by providing its biometrics identification system and has recently completed the trial of a flying car in Japan.

The company at present is laying down submarine cable from Chennai to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a 2,300-km long under sea project expected to be completed in 2020.

"We understand that India is a big market. So far we have somewhere around like USD 400 million worth business in India. Within five years probably we look at $1 billion or something like that revenue target," NEC Corporation president and CEO Takashi Niino said.

He further said NEC Corp is working on a number of smart digital solutions aimed at providing better financial services and delivering upgraded facilities at places like airports, shopping centres, offices and hotels.

All these sectors in India are growing, Niino said adding that looking at the practice worldwide these all will sooner or later require smart data solutions.

NEC's multimodal authentication solutions is called "Bio-IDiom" that performs biometric authentication based on multiple sources, such as face, iris, fingerprint, palm print, finger vein, voice, and ear acoustic information.

The Bio-IDiom is in use at Narita International Airport, Tokyo, Niino said.

NEC's AI Analysis for road degradation solution can help in identifying the roads having cracks. This solution is best for civic bodies as the AI technology can automatically calculate the crack percentage and flatness of the road.

India is moving towards digitization and smart cities are high on government's agenda and these technologies can be part of new India, he said while inviting the customers and investors to Japan to visit its NEC Future Creation Hub in Tokyo.

Niino also informed that NEC has successfully completed a fingerprint identification technology trials with newborn children from as young as 2 to 24 hours old, which was not possible with conventional technologies.

"With this innovative technology, biometric identification of a new born is possible. Until now Aadhaar is applicable only for a person from age of 5 and above.

"This type of technology can help in identification of child by parents in countries where child stealing is prevalent. We at times hear cases of child being changed at hospitals," the NEC Corporation president said.

NEC Corporation has over 98,000 employees and operations in public, enterprise, telecom carrier, system platform and various other sectors in over 168 countries and territories, including India.

In India, the NEC Laboratories India Ltd has set up two laboratories at Mumbai and Bengaluru where it carries out research and development work for new technologies.

A major part of its work in India includes government projects both central and states besides private clientele.