A newly updated report by industry analysts TRN Ltd; “Indian Vehicle Tracking & Fleet Management Market, 2013-17” investigates opportunities in the vehicle tracking and fleet management sector in light of economic and policy development in India in late 2012 and the first half of 2013.  Implications of recent changes to laws governing foreign investment in retail, tax reform, and the Spring 2013 budget are all covered in the new edition, and are used to inform scenarios and forecasts to 2017.

A key conclusion is that the long-term opportunity for vehicle tracking and fleet management in Asia’s third largest economy is too large to ignore with long term sustainable growth guaranteed even under the least favorable market scenario, according to the authors. In the run up to the 2014 national elections, investors, fleet managers and operators remain cautious and this is acting to dampen short term demand. There are, however, numerous cases of successful and innovative tracking solutions being deployed throughout the country. The new TRN report shows that in the current tough economic climate there are important opportunities in many of the 12 vertical market sectors which are analyzed in depth.

Based on interviews with more than 40 leading industry figures in India and internationally during the second half of 2012 and the first half of 2013, other key findings of the report include:
•    India’s infrastructure investment plans of nearly US$ 1 trillion over the coming five years, including planned construction of an additional 15,000km of highway by 2017 will drive demand growth for tracking and fleet management throughout India.
•    Within the addressable market of one million commercial vehicles in 2013, vertical market segments including logistics, mining, construction, and employee transportation, show strong demand for tracking and fleet management, underpinned by increasingly sophisticated use of vehicle and driver data by fleet operators.
•    The 400,000 new buses which will be required by 2017 represent one of the biggest opportunities for fleet management and location based services thanks to recent policy initiatives by central and local government. Recent demands for improved security will further boost the public transport demand for vehicle tracking.
•    Improvements in public procurement, is seen as a key to realizing the opportunity. Some public sector buyers are starting to base procurement decisions on overall lifecycle benefits, rather than lowest unit cost. This trend will be a strong growth driver for advanced fleet management solutions going forward.
•    Suppliers also see the OPEX model combined with rigorous SLAs, as the key to unlocking large volume business in India in the coming years. Advances in tamper proof and ruggedized hardware, network reliability, cloud computing and integration with critical business systems are important enablers of the service model, while buyer-education is seen as essential in gaining acceptance of a true OPEX approach.
•    Overseas interest: Market opportunities in India have attracted tracking and fleet management solution suppliers and investors from Europe, USA, Canada, Taiwan, Singapore, Russia, China, Israel, South Africa, and others into a series of branded and white label distribution deals, M&A and equity investments.
•    Foreign investment and acquisitions: Trimble Navigation and Efkon have opted to acquire local fleet management companies as their mode of market entry, and DigiCore Holdings recently announced investment in India, which could amount to $50million over the coming years. Venture capital investors active in the Indian tracking and location based services market include IDC Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures