Country's 1st 'Talking ATM' for blind set up in A'bad by UBI

Country's first automated teller machine (ATM) which can be operated independently by a visually impaired person, know as 'Talking ATM' was installed on Wednesday at the premises of the Blind People's Association (BPA) in Ahmedabad by the Union Bank of India (UBI).

Chairman and Managing Director of UBI, D Sarkar, was here to inaugurate the ATM.

Sarkar said that this was the 4000th ATM of Union Bank in India, and the city of Ahmedabad was chosen for the launch of this special ATM due to city’s association with Mahatma Gandhi.

He further said that they would study the experiences of the users at the first ‘talking ATM’ before deciding on installing similar disable friendly machines in other parts of the country.

The ATM has a voice interface which can be used by a blind person through a head phone. The machine guides the blind user into the operations.

What makes the machine different is that when a blind persons makes his choice using the keyboard or types his ATM personal identification number (PIN) he will be able to hear the move he has made through the headphone which is not the case in a normal ATM.

Moreover, the ATM has a disable friendly design which enables even a person in wheel chair to operate the ATM independently.

The BPA campus was chosen for the installation of ‘talking ATM’ because as many as 20,000 blind people from Ahmedabad and nearby towns visit this institute regularly.

“Thanks to efforts of Xavier's Resource Center for the Visually Challenged, Mumbai that this newly developed products operates on sound interface and enables a blind person to operate the ATM independently. Every blind person who is holding ATM Card of any bank will now be able to withdraw money on his/her own without any human assistance,” executive director BPA Bhushan Punani said.