Indian Bank to roll out 900 more ATMs

Indian Bank plans to roll out around 900 more automatic teller machines (ATMs), taking the total number of its ATMs across the country to 1,288. These ATMs would be set up in two years' time at an estimated investment of Rs 27 crore.

The roll-out plan is in sync with the belief that customers would depend more on ATMs for transactions in the days to come, according to M S Sundararajan, executive director, Indian Bank.

On the sidelines of launching the National Project for Financial Inclusion (NPFI) at Vagarayampalayam village here, he said ATMs would soon emerge as a powerful delivery channel and hence the bank intended to leverage its ATM network to tap opportunities that were expected to arise in the banking space. Indian Bank currently has 388 ATMs across the country.

Stating that the bank had been giving constant support to the agricultural sector, Sundararajan said the bank had tied up with sugar mills (both private and co operative) across the country to facilitate provision of adequate cash credit limit and prompt payment of sugarcane price as required under the law.

"Tamil Nadu has topped the list of the states that avail most of the agricultural loans. So far, we have disbursed around Rs 227 crore to more than 59,000 cane growers, of which about 49 per cent of the amount was given to the farmers in Tamil Nadu," he added.

In the horticulture section, the bank, in the last fiscal, sanctioned Rs 9.83 crore to 135 farmers, of which Rs 7.56 crore was given to the farmers in Tamil Nadu. "We expect a 20 - 25 per cent growth in this area during the current financial year," he said.

In connection with its centenary year celebrations (August 15, 1906 - August 15, 2006), the Indian Bank was planning to introduce new schemes, which would be unveiled shortly, for the benefit of farmers and other customers, Sundararajan added.