Demand For The Smart Card Is Driven By Its High Adoption In The Banking Sector

A smart card is made with plastic and commonly comes in the same size as a credit card or driver’s license. It contains an embedded integrated circuit chip also known as ICC, which is either internal memory, memory chip or secure microcontroller. Smart cards can be connected to the reader by either short rage wireless connectivity such as near-field communication (NFC) or radio-frequency identification (RFID) or direct physical contact. In smart card, encryption is provided for the protection of stored memory and tempered free design.

Over a series of interface smart card exchanges the data with the card readers using memory chip or microprocessors. The payment authentication system receives information in the smart cards from card reader via a wired or wireless connection network. In the case of ATM cards, PIN or one-time passwords are used for security reasons. Increasing use of smart cards in the banking and finance sector as credit cards, debit cards, and other types of payment cards is resulting in high adoption of smart cards among end users. In addition, the growing use of smart cards by various organization for authentication purposes is anticipated to increase its adoption in the next ten years. Furthermore, rising adoption of electronic passports for secure identification, privacy protection, prevention against identity theft and forgery are some of the factor expected to drive demand for smart cards in the coming years. However, increasing preference for digital money transfer and mobile wallets can affect demeaned for smart cards among the end users.

Microprocessor smart cards, memory smart cards, hybrid smart card, dual-interface card, contactless smart card, and contact smart card are types of smart cards. Contact smart card is the most commonly used smart card. It is inserted into the card reader, the conductive plate on the card gets connected directly to the card reader. In the case of contactless smart cards, no direct contact is required. Both smart card and card readers contain antennas and are connected via radio frequency. When the smart card is in close proximity of the reader, they can be connected. Availability of various types of smart cards is anticipated to make consumers more include towards its usage.

By region, the smart card market is categorized into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Increasing adoption of smart cards in various sectors such as government, retail, banking, financial services, and insurance, healthcare, and transportation is anticipated to fuel demand for smart cards in countries in Asia Pacific region. In addition, the use of smart cards for purchasing tickets of ferries, trains, mentors, buses. etc. is another factor anticipated to increase its demand.

By type, the smart card market is categorized into contact cards, contactless cards, memory cards, and CPU/MPU microprocessor multifunction cards. By application, the smart card market is categorized into secure identity applications, healthcare applications, payment applications, and telecommunications applications.

Key players of smart card market include Landis+Gyr, Itron, GE Digital Energy, Siemens, Kamstrup, Sensus, Elster Group, Silver Spring Networks, Aclara, Nuri Telecom, Sagemcom, Trilliant, Iskraemeco, Echelon, Tantalus Systems, ZIV, Sanxing, Linyang Electronics, Wasion Group, and Haixing Electrical.