APAC estimated to account for the largest size of the smart card market

Posted by Tom C on May 18th, 2021

The smart card market is projected to reach USD 16.9 billion by 2026 from USD 13.9 billion in 2021; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.0% from 2021 to 2026. Major drivers for the growth of the market are surged demand for contactless card (tap-and-pay) payments amid COVID-19, proliferation of smart cards in healthcare, transportation, and BFSI verticals, transportation, and BFSI applications; increased penetration of smart cards in access control and personal identification applications; and easy access to e-government services and risen demand for online shopping and banking. Moreover, new mode of information security of users enabled by block chain and adoption of smart cards in populated countries of APAC act as growth opportunities for developers of smart card.

A dual-interface smart card is embedded with a chip that allows the card to be used in both contact and contactless transactions. Dual interface cards allow card readers to obtain the card’s identifying information through the use of a single chip. The chip component of a dual interface card is typically embedded in an outer layer of PVC, polycarbonate, or polyester. Dual interface chip cards provide greater payment processing convenience. Dual interface smart cards are likely to witness high growth in the coming years. These cards, including both contact and contactless interfaces, enable compatibility with any card reader or POS terminal. These cards are integrated with RFID technology and EMV chips and allow contactless payment. The faster payment processing nature of these cards reduces waiting time for customers in a queue.

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MPU Microprocessor-based smart cards have a microprocessor embedded onto the chip in addition to memory blocks. This type of card can be used for more than one function and is usually designed to enable adding, deleting, and otherwise manipulating data in memory. Features such as faster processing, large memory storage, and enhanced security have enabled microprocessor-based smart cards to penetrate conventional smart card application areas and reach newer application areas, such as NFC and M2M communications. Increasing banking frauds and rising concern towards security has led to the rapid growth of the market for microprocessor-based smart cards. As the security of customer credentials is of utmost importance in the BFSI sector, microprocessor-based smart cards are expected to witness high demand in this sector in the coming years.

Smart card have various vertical, which include BFSI, telecommunications, government and healthcare, transportation, education, retail and others. Among vertical, the government and healthcare segment of the smart card market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. With globalization, developing economies in APAC and RoW are expected to digitize their government institutional processes to cope with rising competition. A part of this digitization process involves converting paper-based documentation into paperless or smart card-based documentation. Therefore, smart cards are being used by governments to issue identity cards to individuals, which contain all the details of individuals. The Aadhaar card scheme in India is one such example, which helps citizens easily verify their legitimacy for availing healthcare, international travel, and other government benefits.

Europe is the second-largest market for smart card. The region comprises economically and technologically advanced countries, such as the UK and Germany, as well as severely debt-ridden countries, such as Greece and Austria. The UK, France, and Germany are the major markets for smart cards in Europe. The increasing circulation of smart cards and terminals by card companies, such as Visa and MasterCard, has led to a growth in total spending in these countries. Europe has witnessed rapid adoption of state-owned healthcare and health insurance systems than the most developed countries across the world. The European Commission has mandated the use of cards as a replacement to E- 111 paper forms for cross-border healthcare services, which has led to the growth of the smart card market in Europe.