GLONASS to counter US’ GPS in India?

MUMBAI: Russian president Vladimir Putin, during his India visit, is likely to push GLONASS — the global satellite navigation system provider — as an alternative to America’s GPS (global positioning system) for civilian purposes.
Two separate agreements are likely to be signed between GLONASS Union, Russia’s national navigation services provider, and India’s Eirene Systems promoted by Subodh Agrrawal, to use the former’s global satellite navigation system that helps determining the location and pace at which an object is moving.The partners will set up a 50:50 JV, which is likely to invest over Rs 600 crore at the early stage and targets $100 million of annual exports.
Confirming the move, Alexander Gurko, president, GLONASS Union, told TOI, “We are signing agreements with our Indian counterpart to ensure safety and security of Indians through our advanced navigation, communication and information system. US GPS translates into $60 billion worth of savings to US economy per year. GLONASS systems helps saving over $50 billion to the Russian economy a year and our systems can help India save tens of billions of dollars each year, if not more.”
GLONASS is working on an accident emergency response system to save lives and mitigate injuries of road traffic accident victims or casualties in other emergencies on Russian roads and is likely to bring the technology to India.
Commenting on the development, Agrrawal, chairman, Eirene Systems, said, “Inspired by our PM vision of ‘Make in India’, I am very excited to bring GLONAss technologies and systems to India, with all technology transfers to manufacture in India. Besides catering to Indian markets, we will be exporting back to Russia and other global markets including SAARC nations. These advanced systems, besides savings billions of dollars to Indian economy, will help in curbing incidents like Nirbhaya and Uber. It can also prevent theft in government social schemes like public distribution system.”