Allahabad Bank plans to set up close to 2,000 point of sale (PoS) terminals by the end of this fiscal. The bank is in talks with 3-4 companies for entering into a technological tie-up for the same, according to its Chairman and Managing Director, Mr J. P. Dua.
“We are in advanced stages of discussion with a few companies for technical collaboration.
“We are hopeful of firming up the plan within the next three months and we intend to roll out 2,000 PoS terminals by the end of this fiscal to begin with,” Mr Dua told
PoS terminals are devices seen in retail and hospitality establishments for processing credit cards, debit cards, smart cards and other electronically submitted transactions in a traditional retail environment.
The setting up of PoS terminals would help the bank garner higher fee-based income, apart from bolstering its CASA (Current Account and Savings Bank Account) ratio. The bank's fee-based income witnessed a growth of about 20 per cent last year. “We will aim to grow our fee-based income by about 30 per cent this year,” he said.
It would also encourage customers to use their cards (both debit and credit), thereby bringing down the need for paper-based transactions, he pointed out.
Cash withdrawals
With a view to enhance customer convenience in using the plastic money, the Reserve Bank of India recently permitted cash withdrawals up to Rs 1,000 a day per debit card issued in the country at PoS terminals
Just last year, State Bank of India had entered into a tie up with two US-based companies — Visa International and Elavon Inc — for setting up a network of PoS terminals across the country. SBI plans to roll out six lakh PoS terminals at merchant establishments over the next five years.
Incidentally, ICICI Bank sold its network of about 1.5 lakh PoS terminals to First Data Corporation (FDC) in 2009.
According to RBI data, there were 5.6 lakh PoS terminals in the country as on February 2011.