The document states that the policy has been put in place due to security concerns and is applicable for procurement by all Ministries/Departments(except Defence) and their agencies.
In a bid to boost the domestic manufacturing of smart cards, the Government of India has approved the Preferential Market Access (PMA) policy, which will give preference to the ‘domestically manufactured’ smart cards. In furtherance of the policy notified, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) has stated that all Ministries/Departments(except Defence) and agencies under their control should prefer domestically manufactured Smart Cards.
The document states that the policy has been put in place due to security concerns and is applicable for all electronics products purchased for Governmental purposes and not with an idea of commercial resale or with a view to be used in the production of goods for commercial sale.
The policy defines smart cards as “A credit card sized plastic card with an Integrated Circuit(IC) contained inside. The IC contains a microprocessor and memory. Smart Cards can be contact, contactless or dual interface (both contact and contactless). Some of the applications of smart cards are Identity Card, Banking Cards, Health Card, Vehicle Registration Card, etc.”
The policy states that “Percentage of procurement for which preference to domestically manufactured Contact Smart Cards is to be provided (in value terms)” is 50 per cent. However, “percentage domestic value addition in terms of Bill of Material (BOM) required for Contact Smart Cards to qualify as domestically manufactured” is 30 per cent in Year 1, 45 per cent in Year 2 and 65 per cent in Year 3 ‘onwards’.
Incase of Contactless Smart Cards, “Percentage of procurement for which preference to domestically manufactured” is 50 per cent while the “Percentage domestic value addition in terms of Bill of Material (BOM) required” is 40 per cent in Year 1, 50 per cent in Year 2 and 70 per cent in year 3 onwards. The notification came into effect immediately and the ‘year 1’ for the purpose of this notification would be upto 31.3.2014.
A government department or its agencies can choose to procure a higher percentage of domestically manufactured goods than specified in the notification. The policy states that this would enable ministries/departments such as Atomic Energy, Space, Home Affairs, etc to meet their special requirements or wherever a special policy provision exists/decision is taken by the Government to meet the demands of domestic manufacturers.
The DeitY recently held a meeting with the stakeholders to discuss the draft notification with respect to smart cards for preferential market access for domestic manufacturers in government procurement. The meeting was held on Feb 21, 2013 under the chairmanship of Ajay Kumar, JS, DeitY.
The representatives of industry and concerned ministries/departments and government agencies were present at the meeting. The industry representatives informed about the manufacturing capabilities owing to smart cards and welcomed the draft notification. The notification has been prepared on the basis of inputs received in the meeting.
