The Hindu Business Line : RFID adoption gaining momentum

Hyderabad, Sept. 2 The adoption of the RFID (radio frequency identification) technology is at inflection point in India in retail, railways, airline and healthcare and pharma sectors. While the cost of RFID tags is still high for mass adoption, it has come down significantly in the last two years. This will get cheaper as it makes further inroads, according to Professor N. Vishwanadham, Executive Director of Centre for Global Logistics and Manufacturing Services (Glams), Indian School of Business.

Speaking to Business Line, Prof Viswandham said they were in parleys with the Railways to see how they can better manage wagon movement, working with the Apollo group, Chennai in healthcare sector, with Sical Logistics in shipping s ector, and Aankhen, a Silicon Valley company.

Ranbaxy has deployed RFID for its products sold overseas and many manufacturing companies are doing so internally to bring about supply chain efficiencies.

“In addition, we are in discussions with retail chains such as Heritage, which is actively evaluating RFID usage in their stores,” he said. There are about 10 companies in India offering these solutions to MNCs and it won’t be long before others follow suit.

Opportunities abound in both urban and rural areas. The cost of a RFID tag is now at about Rs 20 and it will not be long before it comes down to single digit as the adoption goes up.

Citing the case of airline industry, Prof Viswanadham said that lost baggage was a major cause for concern in the rapidly expanding airline industry. The RFID technology fits well into this area.

As a part of Glams, ISB is hosting a global supply chain summit on September 6-7, where Professor Sanjay Sharma from MIT and Mr Ravikant Pappu, Co-Founder of Think Magic, a provider of RFID technologies, would provide deeper insights on the impact of RFID technology on businesses.

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