Punjab National Bank has opened its first biometric ATM in the village of Ranikhera in Punjab, India, an official from the New Delhi-based bank tells PaymentsSource.
“This biometric ATM will work with the help of physical identification,” he adds. “Users will have two options–either an impression of a finger or the palm.” Pune, India-based Axis Technologies Pvt. Ltd. manufactured the machines.
The ATM will service four villages and approximately 300,000 villagers, according to the official. “Our aim is to follow the Reserve Bank of India’s mandate” to bring financial services to the unbanked, and the ATMs will help achieve this goal, he says. “Expect more ATMs in 2010 of this type,” the official says.
The Reserve Bank of India, under the guidance of the Indian government, has asked public-sector banks such as Punjab National to offer biometric ATMs and readers in their efforts to reach out to rural communities. According to local news reports, such other institutions as Syndicate Bank, State Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce also expect to support biometric ATMs.
