Smart cards were laid out in front of the Ministry of Industry and Trade – Newspaper Kommersant No. 32 (7477) dated 21.02.

Russian manufacturers of electronics and semiconductors are asking to introduce duties on the import of smart cards (SIM cards, bank and transport cards) in the amount of 50-100%. Companies are concerned that the current zero tariffs encourage imports at the expense of domestic factories. The difference in price between a Chinese bank card and a Russian one with a Chinese chip can reach 500%. However, card users, banks and mobile operators, oppose the fees in order to avoid restricting competition.

Kommersant got acquainted with the appeal of the association ANO Telecommunication Technologies (ANO TT, unites Rostelecom, Element, Rostec and others, the organization is headed by the CEO of Mikron Gulnara Khasyanova), sent to the Ministry of Industry and Trade last week. It proposes to establish protective duties of 50-100% on imported smart cards (banking, transport and SIM cards). The document notes that Russian card makers “have production capacities capable of meeting the needs of” customers, primarily banks and mobile operators, with a large margin. ANO TT emphasizes that now the import duty on ready-made smart cards has been zeroed, while on components it averages 7%, which puts domestic companies “in obviously losing conditions.”

Market participants are also concerned that “the issue is being considered” to allow the production of cards of the Mir payment system (the operator is the National System of Payment Cards NSPK) outside Russia. This, according to ANO TT, may lead to “a complete redistribution of the market and the bankruptcy of Russian high-tech card industries, which, in turn, will lead to a sharp increase in the vulnerability of banks and telecom operators.” The Ministry of Industry and Trade told Kommersant that the letter “is in progress.” ANO TT did not answer “Kommersant”.

Kommersant’s sources in the payment market say that most Russian banks buy cards from Russian companies. The latter (for example, Aliot and Novacard), in turn, receive foreign chips and package them in plastic at their facilities. Post-Bank and Sberbank also order bank cards from Mikron (owned by Element – JV Rostec and AFK Sistema), which also produces chips. The Central Bank told Kommersant that they did not observe a shortage of Mir card blanks in banks: “Demand is satisfied in a timely manner.”

Kommersant’s interlocutor in the payment card market says that Russian vendors are in favor of introducing protective duties, as they are afraid of “the expansion of Chinese manufacturers of smart cards in the Russian Federation.”

The fact is, he says, that until 2022, Russian card manufacturers purchased chips from European suppliers that received NSPK certificates, allowing their components to be used in Russian bank cards.

“In the spring, deliveries of European chips stopped, and we urgently began to look for Chinese counterparts. NSPK certified them, and these chips were introduced into banks. Now Chinese manufacturers want to enter the Russian payment card market on their own, and not through the supply of chips, ”a Kommersant source explains. He adds that the price difference between a Chinese card and a Russian one with an imported chip can reach 500%. “The entry of the Chinese into the Russian market will kill Russian card manufacturers,” emphasizes the interlocutor of Kommersant. Dumping by Asian vendors, which was previously held back by the global shortage of chips, is gaining momentum, the risk of bankruptcy of domestic manufacturers is obvious, Alexey Gazin, commercial director of Aliot, confirms: “As a result, we will see a decrease in local competition and an increase in prices for end consumers. Therefore, we certainly welcome the introduction of duties on card products.”

But consumers have a different opinion. In recent years, the Russian market has indeed faced a shortage of cards and an increase in the cost of their production, VTB says: “Market participants are interested in reducing the cost of plastic, including due to the possibility of producing cards abroad.” In other banks and NSPK “Kommersant” did not answer.

According to Kommersant’s interlocutor in one of the telecom operators, 30-50% of SIM cards are purchased in China, the rest is produced in the Russian Federation by Novacard, Altair and Eastkompis. This is not a full-cycle production: the sites are implanting a chip into the case and personalizing the SIM card, Kommersant’s interlocutor emphasizes. A source in another telecom operator adds that in 2022 the price of SIM cards has already increased from 20 to 110 rubles. In “Novacard” and “Altair” “Kommersant” did not answer, in “Eastkompis” they refused to comment.

The cost of smart cards has seriously increased, MTS confirms, adding that there really is no shortage now: “One of our suppliers is Novacard. There are also deliveries from China. VimpelCom is also talking about the rise in prices for SIM-cards. They believe that the implementation of the idea of ​​ANO TT will only aggravate it and “lead to an increase in the cost of access to communication services.”

Nikita Korolev, Olga Sherunkova, Maxim Buylov