State-owned banks in India would have to dramatically change their ATMs if they and the central bank approve recommendations to reform the country’s ATM systems.
The Ministry of Finance in India created the committee that developed the recommendations after the ministry decided last month that all 21 public-sector banks jointly procure ATMs to reduce cost and increase interoperability.
The banks will decide on the recommendations by the end of March.
Under the recommendations, designed primarily to accommodate rural-network expansion, solar-powered panels would back up all ATMs so they could keep operating during power outages, which are common in rural areas. The machines also would have to be able to handle an average of 200 transactions daily and be usable for at least 16 hours per day using solar power alone. In urban and semi-urban areas, the ATMs would have to handle a minimum of 300 transactions daily.
In addition, the committee recommended that ATMs public-sector banks deploy be able to accept currency in denominations ranging from 50 rupees (US$1 or 75 euro cents) to 1,000 rupees, which would help small retailers and traders to deposit cash after business hours and get immediate credit. Bank ATMs in India today support cash deposits via envelopes, which requires manual processing that delays crediting the depositor's account for a day or two.
The committee also recommended that all ATMs have an internal camera, which should store images in a digital format for at least two months to help tackle incidents such as use of stolen ATM cards. The ATMs would have to capture and stamp the transaction information on the images for monitoring from a central location.
