With more than 100 million mobile handsets being sold in India annually, cell phones will drive the adoption of digital maps in the country, Navteq today said.

"About 100 million handsets are sold annually in India and 3-4 per cent of these are smartphones or GPS-enabled, which support digital maps. So, while the auto sector drove adoption of digital navigation in the US, mobile phones will do the same for India," Navteq Senior Vice President (Sales - Asia Pacific) Richard E Shuman told PTI.

Navteq provides digital maps in cars, mobile phones and other hand-held devices through various hardware manufacturers.

"Digital mapping solutions are still at a nascent stage.

But in another few years as people get to touch, feel and use the product, it will change the way people navigate," he said.

The company is in discussion with various carmakers and handset makers in India to roll out its products.

"India is a priority market for us. We are in discussion with a few car makers as well as mobile handset makers for our products," Shuman said but declined to divulge details.

Navteq maps are currently available through mobile handsets of various firms like Nokia, Samsung and LG.

"By the end of 2010, there would be in excess of three million devices with Navteq maps in India," he said, adding that this number is set to grow more than 50 per cent in the next few years.

The company has a manufacturing and R&D unit in Mumbai, which employs about 1,300 people currently. "We plan to increase our head count to 1,600 by the end of this year," he said.

Navteq has recently announced its '2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge' aimed at selecting location-based applications.

The company had received about 500 applications based around fitness and tracking services, enterprise solutions, location-based advertising and mobile couponing, social networking, navigation, search and news services.

"We are thrilled to bring the Global LBS Challenge to the India region, where the pool of talented developers and the growth potential of location-based services are both tremendous," he said.