We have designed our products after keeping in mind the Indian demography – Tamaal Roy, CEO, Biomatiques Identification Solutions

Biomatiques has recently launched Iris Recognition Technology and is the first Indian company to enter this space. AADHAAR based identification initiative of the government is surely going to change the security system infrastructure of the nation and Biomatiques will play a major role in this transformation. Being the first and the only company to receive Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) from Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY); Biomatiques have successfully managed to offer the Iris Recognition Technology at the cost of finger print technology. Currently there are only 12 other companies in the international market. Business2Buisness in an exclusive conversation with Mr. Tamaal Roy, CEO, Biomatiques Identification Solutions shares more on their innovative products and solutions and a lot more! 

STRATEGY & VISION: Mr. Roy shares, “The product that we have come up with is an Iris Scanner. GOI initiatives give us a safe passage. Not every player in this segment is able to comprehend the importance of this biometric modality in the way Biomatiques Identification Solutions Pvt. Ltd. does.” He adds, "Our technology goes well with ‘Digital India’ program of Gov., While internationally, there are 12 companies already in the global market, our products were designed after keeping in mind the Indian demography. In India, nearly 70% population belongs to the labor class and the remaining 30 per cent is the office class category. Very few people know about the technology, so to introduce a simple, easy to understand and operate product was the main challenge. Moreover, India is a cost effective nation and the Indian consumer believes in value for money. India has a different topology across. So over every 100 kms, people change, the climatic conditions change, their lifestyle changes, even knowledge and education levels change. Understanding this is very essential. Hence the way the people will adapt to the product will also change depending on region to region.”

GROWTH TRAJECTORY & EXPANSION PLANS: Mr. Roy shares, “We’re persistently involved in focusing the growth plan considering the existing market of beneficiary authentication for the delivery of govt. welfare/schemes using Aadhaar enabled services. We’re getting associated with system integrator for enabling the most accurate iris biometric based identification solutions (Made in India) for eKYC / identity mapping in the Govt. market as well as BFSI, Telecom and Education sector.”

THE PRODUCTS & SOLUTIONS: Mr. Roy shares, “We have successfully supplied 33,310 scanners to the government of Andhra Pradesh, which are being implemented for pension and ration distribution. The latest iris scanner can be useful in our day to day lives as well. It can be fixed outside our door and used for keyless entry. It can double up as additional security for mobiles and personal computers and even apps, email clients and social networking websites.” He adds, “Iris Recognition Technology eradicates manual validation and proxies, encourages punctuality and efficiency in schools and organizations where capturing attendance is mandatory. It can be further used for forensic & criminal investigation, for security checks at airports and border security.  It can also be useful at data centres, labs, hospitals, banks and utility centres. What is interesting is the fact that earlier cost was an issue with this technology, however, with the change in times Biomatiques have made this technology available at the cost of fingerprint technology making it affordable with better security control and identification assurance.”

THE IRIS TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION: “We have designed our products after keeping in mind the Indian demography. In India, nearly 70 percent population is into labour, agriculture and other manual activities. Fingerprints of farmers and manual labourers tend to get worn out over a period of time. Thus establishing identity and accountability can become a challenge. Iris on the other hand remains intact throughout the life of an individual. Security solutions of the highest standards should not be a matter of luxury. Instead, it should be treated as a necessity and should be made available for everyone at an economical price,” shares Mr. Roy.  He adds, “As the only Indian company we currently have 95 per cent of the market share. We are fully confident that by 2020, new biometric methods will displace passwords and fingerprints for access to endpoint devices across 80% of the market as per Gartner report. Very few people know about the technology, so to introduce a simple, easy to understand and operate product was our main challenge. So by offering a technology which is cost efficient, contact less and at the same time far superior in comparison to other forms of biometrics, the mass adoption of the same in the enterprise as well as the consumer segment will be quite easy.”

BIOMETRIC VERSUS FINGERPRINT TECHNOLOGY: “70% of the population in India belongs to the labour class. When someone is constantly doing hard labour, there is a possibility that their fingerprint keeps changing as they are one of the most abused part of the human body. Their finger may develop cuts and bruises as they do not protections. This creates a problem when you have to use a fingerprint scanner. It does not match with your saved data. All the features in your body will undergo daily changes except your eyes which remains same from the time of your birth till death. Hence IRIS scanning proves to be one of the most accurate forms of biometric identification. Day to day activities likes opening a new bank account, getting a new credit card or issuance of new SIM can be possible within just a matter of few minutes as KYC details of every consumer can be accessed from Aadhaar database and verified using iris scanner. Even ATM transactions can be made more secured using Iris enabled authentication. Along with debit card and PIN, having iris scanners at ATM machine will act as an additional secured authentication using biometric properties,” shares Mr. Roy.

SECTORS THAT CAN USE IRIS TECHNOLOGY: Mr. Roy shares, “Application wise, this technology has generated tremendous demand from the following segments

Government Welfare and scheme: Various government sectors in India provide public services and welfare schemes for the benefit of people in the society. Iris recognition is increasingly employed for large scale applications, especially in the government supported projects. Like Aadhaar initiative, which was taken by the government, IRIS recognition can be used in the pension as well as in PDS. By doing so it can be rest assured that the right person is getting the welfare benefits with this beneficiary authentication method. 

BFSI and Telecom: Opening a new bank account, getting a new credit card or issuance of new SIM can be possible within just a matter of few minutes as KYC details of every consumer can be accessed from Aadhaar database and verified using iris scanner. Even ATM transactions can be made more secured using Iris enabled authentication. Along with debit card and PIN, having iris scanners at ATM machines will act as an additional secured authentication using biometric properties.

Automobiles: Now unlock your car or bike with the blink of an eye. An iris scanner can be integrated in car or bike. Without your iris scan the vehicle will not be unlocked and thus will reduce thefts of automobiles significantly. Thus it can be combined with key to act as a double layered security mechanism.

Health Care & Medical: In Health Care sector, patient’s medical history and personal information is very critical and confidential which should be accessible only when the patient or doctor is available. The iris biometric technology will help patients not to carry any physical documents while visiting medical practitioner and allowing practitioner to retrieve medical history of the patients without any gaps and resulting into right diagnoses.

Airport/Border Security: At airports and borders, the security check can be time consuming. Also there are cases of identity theft and change of identity which can be of serious nature. This again can be eliminated as iris scanners can provide the highest levels of security compared to other forms of biometric methods.

Manufacturing Industries: Places where individuals are required to wear PPE – Personal Protective Equipment gear like masks and gloves is one of the key areas where this technology can be used. For identifying who they are individuals may be required to remove their masks and gloves in order to scan their face or fingerprints which can be time consuming in an emergency situation. Even if someone decides to don a PPE and disguise and choose someone else's identity to breach security and get access, it won't work as the iris scanner will only grant access to the actual person and not the counterfeit intruder.

Attendance & Access Control: This technology can also be used in offices to check movement of the employees across any working environment and ensure only authorized personals access the restricted area or as per their authorization. The system can also help to automate payroll system entirely. Using somebody else’s ID card can be quite a serious issue which can be eradicated with the help of iris scanners.

Iris recognition and E-Governance: Mr. Roy shares, “When AADHAAR was introduced in India, it required two forms of biometrics, one was fingerprints and the other was Iris. That’s where we saw a big opportunity. We chose Iris technology because at that time there were only 12 companies in the international market. And there was no Indian name amongst these. We became the first Indian company to enter this field when we were certified with STQC certificate from DeitY, New Delhi.” He adds, “ We had started working on our business model in June 2012. The technology goes well with the “Make in India” initiative of GoI. Thus, we bring the heritage of Indian software superiority to the world. We have designed our product after keeping in mind the Indian demography and considering working conditions of India’s population who is engaged in manual labor. Iris recognition as an authentication method has a wide range of applications in government’s Public Distribution System (PDS), Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), Pension and MNREGA schemes which could be used for identifying individuals. The technology has already been implemented in 12 districts of Andhra Pradesh where we have also earned the largest order in India for 33,310 Iris Authentication scanners for beneficiary authentication.”

Biometrics trends in 2017: Mr. Roy shares, “We’re persistently involved in focusing the growth plan considering the existing market of beneficiary authentication for the delivery of govt. welfare/schemes using Aadhaar enabled services. We’re getting associated with system integrator for enabling the most accurate iris biometric based identification solutions (Made in India) for eKYC / identity mapping in the Govt. market as well as BFSI, Telecom and Education sector.”

India and the global markets: On discussions on how is Indian market different from the global markets when it comes to adoption of new technologies Mr. Roy shares, “There are certain factors because of which iris technology has not been able to create a demand in the biometric market. What is interesting is the fact that foreign companies are not ready to lower the price of their iris scanning products as they are also into other forms of biometrics like fingerprint technology. If they lower the price for iris technology, it will render their finger print scanners useless. And that is where the problem lies. Iris technology in India is not so popular because of the price factor. No doubt this technology is far superior compared to other forms of biometrics, but price has always been a constraint. Security solutions of the highest standards should not be a matter of luxury. Instead it should be treated as a necessity and should be made available for everyone at an economical price.”