CE Info Systems is India’s home-grown digital-map company - the one that put the country on the map, literally, starting in 1995 when no Indian digital maps existed and building the foundational geospatial layer that now powers everything from in-car navigation to doorstep delivery. Founded by Rakesh and Rashmi Verma on the belief that 80% of all data would eventually be tied to a location, it spent over 25 years surveying, coding, and continuously updating a proprietary map of India that no foreign competitor is allowed to replicate under current geospatial policy. The recurring approach is a flywheel: build the deepest map data once, license it across every possible use - cars, apps, enterprise software, government systems, and IoT devices - and let each new customer feed data back in, making the map smarter for the next one.
Business segments
A single engine with five faces - one proprietary map database, distributed through four distinct customer channels (automotive, enterprise SaaS, government, and consumer) and amplified by an IoT hardware business that feeds real-world data back into the core.
1. The core map database: India’s deepest geospatial asset
A proprietary, continuously-updated digital map of India - built over 25 years at a cost already sunk - that no foreign company can legally replicate, creating a regulatory and data moat around every other part of the business.
- Built from scratch, not bought - the map covers 6.6 million kilometres of roads (over 99% of India’s network), 28 million places of interest, 7,900-plus towns, 637,000-plus villages, and 19.75 million building addresses, all created through professional field surveys and proprietary AI-assisted mapping systems rather than licensed from third parties.
- Updates itself through use - every customer who uses the maps - a car navigating, a delivery driver logging a stop, an IoT tracker pinging location - generates data that flows back into the map through AI-driven change-detection and validation pipelines, so the asset gets fresher and more accurate the more it is used.
- The regulatory wall - India’s geospatial policy permits Indian companies to build advanced 3D, HD, and 360-degree panoramic maps, but blocks foreign entities from doing the same, meaning global rivals cannot simply map India themselves and must either partner or stay out.
- Licensed, not sold - the map data generates revenue through royalties, annuities, subscriptions, or per-vehicle and per-transaction fees, creating a recurring stream from an asset whose major development costs were already borne over two decades.
2. Automotive OEM: the embedded navigation engine for India’s car and bike makers
Four out of every five new connected vehicles in India roll off the line with MapmyIndia’s navigation and location software already inside - a position built on multi-year contracts with virtually every major manufacturer.
- Dominant market share - the company holds an 80-85% volume share of embedded connected navigation and mapping for automotive OEMs in India, with 3.5 million-plus new vehicles (cars, two-wheelers, and commercial vehicles, across petrol, diesel, and electric) shipping with its solutions in FY26.
- Paid per vehicle, per module - OEMs sign multi-year contracts, typically 3-5 years, paying on a per-vehicle per-module basis, plus top-up subscription charges for connected services like real-time traffic and online search, creating a visible order pipeline.
- The Hyundai anchor - a landmark INR 400 crore, five-year contract with Hyundai AutoEver for map and connected-services content across Hyundai and Kia cars in India demonstrates the scale and stickiness of these OEM relationships.
- Long runway ahead - only 11% of vehicles in India have embedded maps and connected tech, against a global attach rate of 50-60%, so the addressable market can roughly quintuple even before the vehicle parc itself grows.
3. Enterprise SaaS: geospatial analytics and workforce automation for corporate India
A suite of cloud platforms that turn the map into a business tool - helping banks verify addresses, logistics firms track fleets, and field-sales teams plan their beats - sold on a per-user, per-asset, or per-transaction subscription.
- Four core platforms - mGIS and Insight for geo-analytics and site selection, Workmate for AI-driven field-workforce automation, InTouch for real-time vehicle and asset tracking, and Locate for advanced fleet management, all delivered as SaaS subscriptions.
- Embedded in everyday transactions - the APIs and SDKs power location features inside apps from PhonePe, Flipkart, Amazon, and Airtel, meaning millions of Indians use MapmyIndia’s data every day without ever seeing the brand.
- Use cases that compound - the same platform serves credit assessment for a bank, delivery-address capture for an e-commerce firm, and fibre-network mapping for a telecom, so the software gets reused across industries with minimal incremental cost.
4. Government and defence: the sovereign geospatial partner
A dedicated subsidiary supplying digital twin mapping, drone surveys, and defence-grade geospatial platforms to Indian government bodies - a business that only an indigenous company with the deepest map data can serve.
- Gated by policy and precision - government contracts require compliance with India’s geospatial policy and data-localisation rules, and the company has access to high-resolution, hyper-local map content that foreign players are not permitted to hold.
- From CoWIN to counter-insurgency - the portfolio spans civilian platforms like the CoWIN vaccine-centre maps and the GSTN geospatial analytics system, and defence systems including a 360-degree visualisation platform for counter-insurgency operations and an electronic nautical-chart analytics system.
- A standalone operation with its own order book - housed in the wholly-owned subsidiary Mappls DT, the government business carries an open order book of over INR 200 crore and contributes roughly 20% of the group’s gross revenue, with its own dedicated leadership.
5. IoT devices and telematics: hardware that feeds the data flywheel
GPS trackers, dashcams, and fleet sensors sold or rented to logistics companies and enterprises - a lower-margin hardware business whose real value is the recurring SaaS revenue and the real-world map data the devices generate.
- Hardware opens the door to SaaS - the business sells or rents IoT devices (trackers, cameras, fuel sensors, panic buttons) and then earns high-margin subscription revenue for the software that monitors and manages them; SaaS contributed 66% of IoT revenue in FY26, up from 40% two years earlier.
- Devices as map sensors - every GPS tracker on a truck or bus feeds real-time traffic and road-condition data back into the core map, so selling hardware directly improves the company’s primary digital asset.
- An opex model for customers - instead of buying devices upfront, customers pay a monthly subscription that bundles hardware and software, with the hardware carried as a fixed asset on the company’s books and depreciated over three years.
Group structure and partners
A listed parent with three operating subsidiaries, a Southeast Asian joint venture with Hyundai, and a web of strategic minority stakes that extend its reach into drones, indoor navigation, autonomous-vehicle simulation, and travel commerce.
- The listed parent - CE Info Systems Ltd trades on BSE and NSE, with the promoter family holding about 54% as of FY22 and key institutional shareholders including Phonepe (13.65%), Tata Mutual Fund (5.11%), and Japanese map-maker Zenrin (3.41%).
- The Hyundai joint venture - PT Terra Link Technologies in Indonesia, a 40:60 JV with Hyundai AutoEver, takes the map-and-navigation playbook to Southeast Asia with a per-vehicle licensing model that commands 2.5-3 times the average revenue per unit versus India.
- Strategic bets on adjacent tech - minority stakes in Indrones (drones-as-a-service), Kogo Tech Labs (in-vehicle travel commerce, integrated into Bajaj and Mahindra bikes), Simdaas Autonomy (autonomous-vehicle simulation), IwayPlus (indoor navigation), and Prashant Advanced Survey (HD mapping) create options on technologies that could feed the next generation of the core map.