Smart ATMs all set to woo clients

ATMs in India may soon get more intelligent and behave like tellers at bank branches. ATM technology major NCR Corporation has developed the concept of intelligent deposits. It would enable customers to deposit cash directly into ATM machines and get the amount credited to their account instantly, without spending hours in long queues at bank branches for depositing money.

“We have developed this technology for other countries and there is a huge scope in India too. We are currently testing templates for Indian currency notes to ensure that the technology works fine here without falling prey to any fraud. The testing would be completed by December. The technology costs $35,000 - 40,000 over and above the cost of the ATM machine. Indian private sector banks have shown interest to adopt the technology, and we might see ATMs with ‘Intelligent Deposit’ technolgy during the coming financial year,” Peter Frielick, vice-president (marketing), South Asia and Apac, NCR, told Business Standard.

NCR Corporation, which has already installed about 20,000 ATM machines in India, currently has a market share of about 60 per cent in the business. Intelligent Deposit ATMs would work this way: The machine would offer an option for depositing currency notes into it, which would be followed by an automated count and read command to calculate the number of notes and their denominations.

The machine would automatically detect counterfeit notes and report to the depositor as an error. The customer would get information on the screen about the details of his deposits. Once the detection is completed and the currencies are deposited, the depositor will receive a confirmation receipt instantly.

Sources said NCR is already in talks with the country’s two largest private sector banks — ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank. The pilot project for the Intelligent Deposit is expected to be taken up during the first quarter of FY10.

“Intelligent Deposit will also help banks as they may do away with lower daily cash reserves at the ATM branches. In fact, that will minimise costs for the bank. However, the overall one-time cost of setting up ATMs might just get doubled if a bank installs this technology,” said Frielick.

At present, customers are allowed to deposit their cash inside envelopes at ATM branches. The amount normally takes 2-3 days to get credited to the account.