Netherlands-based location service provider looking to expand its India footprint

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Amsterdam-based HERE Technologies is in talks with public sector enterprises in three Indian states to expand its citizen services.

The mapping and location service provider already provides emergency services in Uttar Pradesh, where it has partnered with the police department to offer quick assistance to those who dial 100. In Rajasthan, it offers citizen services such as finding hospitals and traffic in the State.

In an interaction with Moneycontrol, Abhijit Sengupta, Sub Regional Director – South East Asia and India, said HERE technologies is now looking to expand these services to three more states in the country and is in active talks public sector enterprises for the same.

This is how the partnership with public sector enterprises works. Let us take emergency services for instance. The company works with the police department to offer faster and accurate dispatch of service when people dial 100. Sengupta explained that the once a person dials 100, HERE technologies’s location service helps the police personnel identify the response team closest to the accurate location.

Apart from citizen services, the company is also in conversation with players in the on-demand services, supply chain and delivery. “This is an evolving ecosystem in India. We are in conversation with some of these players,” Sengupta said.

India is one of the fastest growing markets in the transportation and logistics space thanks to emerging new use cases around food delivery, e-commerce and cab hailing services. All these sectors require location services, which according to Sengupta, is one of the key growth drivers for the company.

HERE Technologies is owned by the consortium of enterprises, mostly automotive industry, such as Audi, BMW, Daimler, Bosch, Continental, Pioneer and Intel. The company has gained significant experience in working with leading automotive players. In India it works with Suzuki, Toyota and Honda for cars’ navigation services.

Now the company is working on developing similar product for two-wheelers as well, with the focus on the South East Asian market, which has large concentration of two-wheelers globally. Sengupta said, “The product is in the development stage and the launch is likely to be in the second half of 2019.”