State Bank of India has ordered 300 solar-powered ATMs from Vortex Engineering Pvt. Ltd., an official from the Mumbai-based-based technology vendor tells PaymentsSource.
“We have won an order to deploy 545 ATMs for the State Bank of India, out of which 300 will be solar powered,” he says. “This is the first large-scale rollout of solar ATMs in India.”
The company valued the order at 180 million rupees (US$4 million or 3 million euros). It plans to install all of the machines in rural and semi-urban areas, according to the official.
“We developed these (solar-powered ATMs) in collaboration with IIT-Madras (a technology university),” he says. “The machines consume less than 72 units of power a month, as they do not require air conditioning.” This translates into savings of 1,728 units per month, or 120,000 rupees, according to the official.
“The ATMs also have the option of biometric authentication using fingerprint recognition,” he adds.
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