Muthoot Finance in White Label ATM club

Muthoot Finance Ltd, the country's largest gold finance company, has become the third entity to set up

White Label Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in the country.

White Label ATMs (WLAs) are not owned by banks but by private ATM service providers. Customers from any bank can deposit or withdraw money from these; banks pay a service fee for the usage. Muthoot has set up a WLA at its corporate office in New Delhi.

M G George Muthoot, group chairman, said: “With our network of over 4,400 branches in 21 states & four Union Territories, we will strategically set up WLAs in semi-urban and rural areas.”

The rollout will be mainly in tier-3 and tier-4 cities. The company aims to set up 9,000 WLAs over three years – 1,000 in the first year, 2,000 in the second year and 6,000 in the third.

Prizm Payment Services, a unit of Hitachi of Japan, had started WLA operations with a launch in January. The Tata Group had begun these services under the brand name of Indicash in June 2013.

Muthoot has planned 100 WLAs in the next three months—50 in south India and 50 in north, east and west India. It has partnered with FIS Payment Solutions Services for this. The total investment at the end of the third year is expected to be Rs 300 crore. Federal Bank will be sponsor for this venture.