SBI tops points of sale network list in India

RBI data shows at the end of March 31st 2015, SBI has had 2.96 lakh PoS terminals across country

State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, now has the largest network of points of sale (PoS) terminals in the country, according to latest data by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). With this, it has left behind rivals such as HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank.

PoS means the point, or location, where a sales transaction takes place, such as a checkout line.

According to RBI data, SBI has 296,000 PoS terminals across the country, compared to HDFC Bank’s 281,000, Axis Bank’s 258,000 and ICICI Bank’s 200,000 PoS systems. The four lenders together dominate this space and contribute to three-fourth of the total 1.4 million PoS terminals deployed in India.

Going ahead, SBI plans to keep up with the pace of expansion of its merchant acquiring business by deploying more PoS terminals. “During 2016-17, SBI plans to add 100,000 terminals to enhance card acceptance infrastructure, particularly in Tier-3 and below centres. SBI is focusing on asset-light acceptance models like application based solutions, mPoS (mobile PoS) and other emerging technologies to penetrate the micro merchant segment,” SBI said in a release.

The lender has also been deploying PoS terminals in semi-urban and rural area.

This comes at a time when both the finance ministry and RBI have been asking banks to expand the PoS network to ensure a wider card acceptance infrastructure. In fact, the finance ministry has recently set up a committee, which will focus on reducing cash transactions and one of its key focus areas includes expanding the PoS network.