The Hindu Business Line : SBI upgrades plan to roll out ATMs — We expect explosive growth on this front: Purwar

The country's No 1 bank, which acknowledges that ATMs will soon emerge as an even more powerful delivery channel, intends to leverage its ATM network to tap opportunities that are expected to arise in the banking space.

The State Bank group, which currently has well over 5,600 ATMs across the country, plans to use these increasingly as an extension of its distribution and marketing initiatives.

The roll-out plan is in sync with the belief that customers will use ATMs extensively in the days to come, remarked Mr A.K. Purwar, Chairman of SBI. As records stand, ATMs now account for roughly 2 per cent of bill payment transactions, 37 per cent of cheque deposits and 75 per cent of cash transactions, he added. These numbers are likely to be revised soon, it is felt.

SBI, which has aggressively computerised its operations, also has big plans with regard to the use of new technology, including provision of Internet-based banking services.

The bank is likely to witness a sharp increase in ATM transactions in future, Mr Purwar mentioned, referring to a few figures recorded in March last year. SBI's ATMs had accounted for 60 lakh transactions at that time, involving Rs 750 crore or so.

The picture in October 2005 was notably different, thanks to transactions that numbered as many as 3.3 crore - nearly a six-fold growth. The amount of money involved was Rs 4,300 crore, also a significant increase.

"We expect to see an explosion on this front," the SBI chief noted. He, however, pointed out that merely a fragment - 200 million or so - of the billion-strong population actually has bank accounts. Of this, only 30 million people have ATM cards.

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