Chip shortage hits issuance of smart driving licences, registration cards

A scarcity of semiconductor chips continues to influence the problem of chip-baseddriver’s licences and vehicle registration playing cards, to the frustration of latest automobile house owners.

During most of 2022 and the start of 2023, disruption within the provide chain and the Russia-Ukraine conflict prompted a scarcity of chips that meant that sensible drivers’ license weren’t issued, mentioned Pethi Sarguru, CEO of Versatile Card Technology( VCT) one of many largest producers of sensible playing cards used for PAN playing cards and voter IDs.

Tenders for manufacture of those sensible paperwork are but to be floated in a number of states, mentioned a number of individuals conscious of the scenario. In Maharashtra, the tender for sensible drivers’ licences has been awarded to Manipal Technologies, Vivek Bhimanwar, Transport Commisioner, Maharashtra advised ET, including that he expects the scarcity to ease in two or three months as soon as the provider is on-boarded.

P Srinivas Rao , chairman & CEO of KL Hi-Tech, a Hyderabad-based supplier of safe based mostly printing options to monetary establishments and banks, mentioned that tenders for drivers’ licences are in course of in a number of different states.

Shortage of chips affected issuance of playing cards by banks late final 12 months, however the scenario improved after intervention by authorities and personal companies.Several vehicle sellers mentioned that there are delays in issuing drivers’ licences in addition to sensible playing cards for automobile registration.

In some states Covid led disruptions have created issues for brand spanking new automobile patrons over your complete final 12 months. An IT worker in Kolkata advised ET that he had purchased his new automotive in mid 2022 and by no means obtained the sensible card for it. “The authorities had told me to make do with Digilocker or get a paper print out,,” he mentioned.A senior official of the motorcar division in Kolkata mentioned that there was no tender course of initiated through the pandemic, and since gross sales of latest autos skyrocketed in 2021-2022, that led to an enormous backlog. “Now if those car owners intend to get a smart card, they will need to apply for a duplicate one,” he mentioned.

However, with the appearance of Digilocker, the issue of harassment from roadside visitors personnel has gone down although, mentioned Nikunj Sanghi ,a number one automotive supplier based mostly out of Alwar.

The official quoted above mentioned that given a lot of the automobile house owners have digital copies of their paperwork, the relevance of a sensible card is one thing that must be re-examined.

“India is moving towards a digital ecosystem and to carry a lot of paperwork in your vehicle cannot be the future,” he added.

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