Pay bills, repay loan, book air tickets at ATM

01/10/2016

MUMBAI: If you were to walk into the CMS-managed ATM at Turner Road, Bandra, in Mumbai, you can buy movie tickets, pay bills or book a flight without using your debit or credit card. The machine enables payment via registered mobile (OTP) and Aadhaar platform for domestic remittances and currency deposit.
ATMs in India are no longer just cash dispensers. From paying off your electricity or gas bill to buying gold coins while displaying current market prices, new-age intelligent ATMs are being designed to do it all. Customers could soon find ATMs becoming their one-stop-shop for all payments. ATM managers like FSS, CMS, AGS, and OEM makers like Diebold and NCR are looking at launching intelligent deposit ATMs with multi-function capabilities like cash recycling, foreign exchange, loan repayment, cheque encashment and bill payment for utilities, mobile recharge and DTH top-ups.
At AGS' innovation centre in Mumbai, intelligent ATMs have been designed with a gold coin dispensing facility; with the gold coin being issued along with a certificate of authenticity.
"Dispensation of gold coins is an attractive feature for the Indian market. Our CINEO C4060 model has many features, including passbook printing, statement printing and a gold coin dispensing facility. We've put in elaborate security measures in place, including firewalls, server clamping, ATM shutdown, to ensure our ATMs are 100% secure," said Ravi Goyal, chairman & MD, AGS.
Even opening a bank account is possible. Using a self-service module, intelligent ATMs facilitate instant account opening and dispensation of personalised debit cards. The device offers a video conferencing facility and enables scrutiny of mandatory KYC documents. Approval for instant loans with a cap of Rs 50,000 can also be done at new ATMs. "Cross-selling of products like granting of loans is something that is very easily doable and our ATMs have the capability. It's the underwriting and credit checks that needs to be in place from the banks' end," said Chandrasekhar, president-services, Electronic Payment and Services. Retail insurance products like motor policies currently can be bought online from insurance sites and ATMs can also be embedded with the same functionality. "We can tailor-make any ATM for any cross-selling product based on the individual bank's requirement," said Chandrasekhar.
Bill payment for utility companies like Adani Gas, BSES Rajdhani Power, Central Power Distribution, Eastern Power Distribution, Tata Power, via ATMs is something that State Bank of India is looking at, says an SBI official. Currently, bill payment for more than 26 utility companies is possible using the State Bank Buddy App. NCR has launched 6 intelligent ATMs without different capabilities as a pilot project with SBI in the top metros.
For forex, ATMs by OEMs like NCR and Hitachi have in-built capacity for three to five dispensation slots and banks can then choose if they want to dispense US dollars, euros, pounds, Singapore dollars or dirhams from those slots.
With regard to forex, ATM makers are running pilot projects and are in talks with Indian banks. for deployment of such ATMs at international locations. India's regulatory framework does not permit the dispensation of forex except at select exchange outlets and at designated bank branches in India. "When a foreigner visits India, they can use their American/British debit or credit card to withdraw Indian rupees from an ATM. The reverse, which is dispensation of US dollars or euros or pounds is not possible in India," says an executive from NCR, which has launched forex-enabled ATMs in countries like Mexico.
For cheque cashing, instant credit and cash withdrawal is possible with intelligent ATMs if the cheque issuer and receiver bank are the same. If not, cheque acceptance and credit could take two-three working days. "Cheque en-cashing on ATMs as a concept has been there in the US, where there is a higher percentage of temporary jobs among the salaried class and salaries are paid on a weekly & bi-monthly basis. India has IMPS, NEFT, RTGS where online payment is instantaneous or within 3-4 hours; at worst with a delay of one day. But in the US, transfers via cheques or even online payments can take as much as 6-7 days, which is why people there still rely on cheques to be encashed via ATMs on weekly paydays," said Nagaraj Mylandla, founder and MD, FSS.
"Cheque encashing via ATMs with a 100% payment of the amount, happens depending on a person's credit score. In the US, workers with a good credit history get 100% of the amour paid on cheques encashed, while those with a history of defaults could get lesser amounts paid. In India, online banking, internet and mobile payments have seen a surge and the ecosystem is completely different including the regulations," says FSS' Nagaraj Mylandla.

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