Rediff.com: ATMs of all public and private sector banks in India will be brought under the umbrella of the Reserve Bank of India's national financial switch by July 2005.
The project, aimed at inter-connecting the ATMs of all banks, is being coordinated by the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology. Euronet Worldwide Inc., through its Euronet Services India Pvt Ltd. division, is implementing the ATM connectivity project for IDRBT.
Three banks -- Corporation Bank, Bank of Baroda and ICICI Bank -- have already joined the network, which launched officially in August. Seven other banks will likely be connected to the switch by January.
"The IDRBT is not concerned with the charges that banks will levy for using each other's ATM network. That will be left to the banks to decide. IDRBT is solely working on ensuring that money can be withdrawn from or deposited into any ATM of the country, irrespective of the bank in which a person has opened an account," said IDRBT director V.P. Gulati.
IDRBT also runs the INFINET (INdian FInancial NETwork), the national communications backbone of the Indian banking sector.
Read related stories from our archives: Euronet to implement national ATM switch in India
More Indian banks outsourcing ATMs to Euronet, 3 Indian banks form country's biggest shared network yet and Mobile recharge offered at Indian ATMs
