Pay bills, repay loan, book air tickets at ATM

CHENNAI: 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, newage intelligent ATMs are being designed to do it all. Customers could soon find ATMs becoming their onestop-shop for all payments.

ATM managers like FSS, CMS, AGS, and OEM makers like Diebold and NCR are looking at ATMs with multifunction 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 .

“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 selfservice module, intelligent ATMs facilitate instant acco unt 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, presi dent-services, Electronic Payment and Services.

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.

With regard to forex, ATM makers are running pilot projects and are in talks with Indian banks. India's regulatory framework does not permit the dispensation of forex except at select exchange outlets and at designated bank branches in India.