PADERBORN, and NEW DELHI, Nov. 1 -- PRNewswire/ AsiaNet Investment in Smart Chip Limited ORGA Kartensysteme GmbH and Smart Chip Limited today announced ORGA's investment in Smart Chip Limited, India's leading smart card company. Smart Chip Limited (SCL) and its subsidiary Syscom, currently enjoying some 85 percent of the Indian smart card market in the health, banking and ID arenas, as well as close to 40 percent of the GSM market, have a longstanding relationship with ORGA as partner in developing the Indian smart card market since 1995. The many years' partnership is now being given a new foundation with Smart Chip and Syscom becoming members of the ORGA Group, which marks another step in ORGA's international footprint. "India is steadily gaining in importance in the international economy, and the smart card is the ticket to a huge market," is the confident opinion shared by Oliver Jaster, CEO of ORGA Kartensysteme, and Sanjeev Shriya, founder of SCL and the Managing Director of Smart Chip. The shared vision of Jaster and Shriya is to make smart card technology accessible to all social classes. Around one billion people, or one sixth of the world's population, live in India, yet a large number of India's 600,000 villages still have no telecommunications connection. To date, there are only about 30 million users privileged enough to afford mobile telephony in India. "Yet the great telecommunications boom has long since begun, and India is currently one of the world's fastest growing GSM markets," says Jaster. New markets are opening up almost by the day in India, due to its huge population, and the current importance being given to developing IT infrastructure. In particular, Smart Chip has been an active player in the ID market. "The large national ID project is on the agenda, and we intend to position ourselves as an experienced solution provider for it," states Jaster. Jaster also expects great market potential in banking. "The most important requirements for an international company to place itself in a market like India are not just commercial know-how or implementation of European standards. It is imperative to work together with companies that move in the local market, understand the country and recognize special needs," is how Jaster describes the situation. "Having decided to commit to India, it was only natural to join hands with the market leader. And SCL is without doubt the leader in India" The collaborative partnership of ORGA and SCL has already proven its credentials, with the launch of the Gujarat Driving Licence project as early as in 1998. Syscom is one of the largest SIM suppliers in India and has successfully built SIM solutions and products to meet Indian needs. Besides it has been personalizing cards locally since 1997, and has the largest personalization centre in the country today. "With Orga's technical expertise and Smart Chip's development capability there is no doubt that the Indian Smart Card market will see some state of the art solutions and products emerging and we are confident that these solutions will also be very useful for international markets", says Shriya Smart Chip and Syscom were founded in 1995 by Sanjeev Shriya. They are India's largest Smart Card companies and currently employ around 220 people. Smart Chip has a large presence in the ID, Transportation, and Health segments, while Syscom enjoys market leadership in the SIM business in India. ORGA is a pioneer and one of the world's most successful players in the smart card industry. ORGA offers innovative, end-to-end solutions based on leading-edge technology and tailored to meet the individual needs of its customers. Its portfolio includes card-related hardware, software, consulting and services for the Telecommunications, Banking, Health and ID sectors.Headquartered in Paderborn, Germany, ORGA has an array of modern production facilities, including its Smart Card Center in Flintbek near Kiel and manufacturing plants in Russia and Brazil. The ORGA Group includes the billing specialist ORGA Systems, subsidiaries in the U.S., the UK, Singapore, Portugal and Russia, and numerous branch offices and joint ventures throughout the world. http://www.orga.com SOURCE: ORGA Kartensysteme GmbH CONTACT: Sonja Risse of ORGA Kartensysteme GmbH, +49-5251-889-1207, Fax: +49-5251-889-1843, Mobile: +49-163-889-1152, [email protected] Web Site: http://www.orga.com --Distributed by AsiaNet (www.asianetnews.net)--