Hyderabad-based Sparsh Communications is planning to introduce debit cards exclusively for truck drivers apart from a smart card-based electronic freight transfer system (EFTS), to operate on its highway automation system (HAS).

The HAS is a VSAT-based truck monitoring network which covers almost 75 per cent of the country's national and state highways enabling fleet owners to keep tabs on their freight and vehicles.

The company now plans to introduce value-added services like EFTS, remote messaging and smart card-based financial transactions, Anjana Sanghi, managing director, Sparsh Communications, told The Financial Express.

Faster circulation of freight realisations has been a problem which transporters face having to wait for the drivers, who also double up as collectors, to return to basewith cash from remote delivery points. As per estimates, roughly Rs 1,600 crore is lost or locked on account of discounted, delayed or robbed payments at any given point.

The problem is addressed by the EFTS by providing drivers an alternative to carrying huge cash on their person by allowing them to deposit money at HAS kiosks, 270 of them to date and expected to go up to 700 by the end of 1999.

The freight or fleet owner can have access to this cash through smart cards once it is deposited by the driver.

Not just that, the company is also planning the launch of a separate debt card exclusively for truck drivers to utilise for refuelling and other expenses while on their jobs. Already several petrol bunks, dhabas and other facilities along highways are doubling up as HAS kiosks and could also honour these debit cards.

While fleet owners have access to the HAS at just Rs 20 a day per truck it costs another Rs 3,200 to install a dashboard transmitter which, apart from tracking its movement, alsodoubles as an emergency beckon for drivers.

The Sanghi group company has invested over Rs 200 crore on the project which went operational recently with over 3,000 trucks registered at present. "We hope to reach the remotest corner of the country within no time and expect a break-even with the registration of 1 lakh trucks," said Sanghi.

With an estimated population of 30 lakh trucks in the country and growing at an annual rate of 10 per cent, the market for such technology is huge, she felt. With the backbone in place, the time is ripe to introduce the value-added services which should make the system popular, she said.