To ensure continued relevance of ATMs in the context of mobile-based digital banking transactions gaining traction, banks and white-label ATM operators may look at newer uses for these machines, including connecting them to the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform to send and receive payments and also enabling them for a wider range of utility bill payments.

The government’s thrust on more digital and less cash transactions in the economy has prompted members of the Confederation of ATM Industry (CATMi) to put their thinking caps on in view of the changing market dynamics and consumer preferences towards mobile banking.

They want to figure out what more an ATM can do besides dispensing cash, and providing facilities such as balance enquiry, mini-statement, card-to-card transfer, and mobile top-up. According to RBI data, as at November-end 2016, there were 2,20,166 ATMs in the country.

More features

According to K Srinivas, Managing Director, BTI Payments, and Member of CATMi, “At the end of the day if you visualise an ATM as a computer with connectivity, there are a bunch of things that you can do. Now in all the places where the network connectivity is not good, can we look at ATMs actually enabling UPI transactions?”

“For example, today there is a feature called card-to-card transfer on ATMs. So, if I know your card number, I can insert my debit card in the ATM, it debits my card (account) and credits your card (account). So, in a way, UPI is the same without explicitly stating the card numbers – money goes from one virtual payment address (VPA) to another VPA.”

While ATMs are currently not connected to UPI, Srinivas felt that this possibility is something that needs to be explored so that ATMs can actually be a part of the ongoing digital revolution in the country.

BTI Payments is in the business of providing ATM deployment and managed services. CATMi is a trade association representing ATM manufacturing & outsourcing companies, White Label ATM operators, payment services companies, cash replenishment & cash in transit agencies, ATM security services and solutions companies in India.

UPI is a smartphone based payments system that eliminates the need for adding payee details such as bank name, branch, IFSC code and full name of the recipient while making payments and requires only the creation of a VPA to send and receive payments.

“Today ATMs are available 24X7. These are all connected through very small aperture terminals (VSATs), which are dish antennas used to receive and transmit data. So at least bandwidth is not an issue.

“Power is by and large not an issue as we have battery backup and those kinds of things. So, these are things that, I think, the ATM players will need to think through and re-discover and figure out how to be a part of the digital revolution,” said the BTI chief.

ATMs and bill payments

Srinivas observed that if ATMs can be hooked to the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), they can be used as a channel for anytime, anywhere, any bill payment facility.

BBPS seeks to integrate bill payments for various utility services and bring interoperability in the bill payments eco-system bringing both banks and non-banks under its fold.

Srinivas, however, admitted that there are certain limitations in the ATMs today because the alphabet facility is not available on the keypad. The ATM keypad is only numeric.

“For example, I can’t enter my name unless it is a touch enabled screen that you create. Those are the sort of things we will need to look at.

“Today the platform (software) on which ATMs run is windows based, many of them are not touch enabled. Maybe, I think, we will need to re-discover ourselves if we can actually touch-enable ATMs and incorporate the ability to enter an alpha. That we will need to obviously work with the original equipment manufacturers to figure out how to enable that,” said the BTI chief.

The ATM manufacturers and service providers are looking at enabling cardless ATM transactions based on Aadhaar number. This unique number helps to authenticate and establish the identity of residents using electronic means.

“Today, you need a debit card to use an ATM. One of the things that we are actually looking at is can I look at Aadhaar-enabled payments. So, instead of inserting your debit card in the ATM and entering your PIN, you enter your Aadhaar number and place your finger on the biometric reader, which in turn is connected to the Unique Identification Authority of India.

“Once the Authority authenticates and establishes your identity, you will get one time password (OTP) on the mobile phone and enter the same in the ATM to complete the transaction. This is a capability which does exist today. The banking system needs to adopt it,” explained Srinivas.

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