eLogistics eyes 10,000 vehicle tracking devices sales in 3 mths

Eyes general transporters, oil industry and corporates

With the demand for its vehicle tracking solutions growing, eLogistics, provider of logistics solutions, is aiming to sell about 10,000 vehicle tracking devices during the first three months of this financial year.

The company is eyeing general transporters, oil industry and corporates as it sees huge potential for its devices in these sectors.

The company plans to sell one lakh devices by the end of this financial year. The market potential for such devices is estimated at about five million units in the country.

The company has so far installed its vehicle tracking device in over 5,000 trucks and its tracking solution has been deployed at over 250 customer locations.

Mythili Parthasarty, vice-president, (finance), eLogistics, told Business Standard that the company's tracking device would help companies improve asset utilisation, checking pilferage in transit, monitoring vehicle speed and optimising routing decisions.

She added that oil companies were coming out with tenders to procure about 25,000 vehicle tracking devices and the company was actively participating in the tender process.

The company has been chosen by Eicher as channel partner, under which, eLogistics'tracking device will be sold along with Eicher's vehicles. It is also in discussions with Maruti for such a partnership.

The company is also targeting BPO companies, private engineering colleges, state road transport corporations and government bodies. It is also planning to get its device certified as 'energy saving device' by power authorities.

Though eLogistics has the capacity to produce only about 250-500 tracking devices, it has recently placed a Rs 70-crore order to produce one lakh such devices with Avalon Technologies to meet the growing demand. The contract manufacturing agreement entails the production and delivery of GSM+GPS tracking devices, through the year April '06 "� March '07. Avalon has already supplied about 500 devices.

Chennai-based eLogistics developed its GSM-based 'eTrack' device in 2002 with an initial funding from the prestigious Technology Development Board, Government of India. eTrack (patented technology) offers tracking solution without any driver intervention.

Customers get a device installed in a vehicle they wish to track. Using the GSM and GPS (Global Positioning System) network, the customer can track his vehicle or cargo on a PC, telephone, or even access quick location and time data via SMS.

The Rs 2-crore eLogistics has a business alliance with BSNL to provide the communication network and data support across India. Tata Consultancy Service provides 24x7 production server facilities and software support.

Nationwide hardware installation and support is provided by TVS Electronics. The control data centre that receives filters and decodes messages in GSM and GPS modes, is run by eLogistics out of their head office in Chennai.

The cost of GSM-based tracking device will be in the range of Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 while the GPS device will be above Rs 13,000 since it will be more precise as it uses digital maps.