News

3 Indian banks form country's biggest shared network yet

October 5, 2003

MUMBAI, India - State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank are coming together to share their ATM networks, making it the biggest such alliance so far in the fiercely competitive Indian banking sector.

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the banks will sign a formal agreement to share their ATMs, a total of some 4,500 machines, on Oct. 7.

SBI has a network of 2,000 ATMs, which will increase to 3,000 by the end 2003. ICICI Bank's ATM network is pegged at around 1,700, while HDFC Bank owns more than 800 ATMs.

With the Indian Banks' Association-promoted Swadhan Shared Payment Network Services expected to wind up operations by December 2003, banks have been forming their own ATM network-sharing alliances. (See related story India's Swadhan network to end ATM sharing in '04)

Recently, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, UCO Bank and Union Bank of India launched a co-branded ATM network called CashOnline. The network has about 600 ATMs; the number is expected to increase to 1,500 by March 2004 and 2,700 by March 2005.

A consortium called CashTree includes the Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Indian Bank, United Bank of India and Syndicate Bank. Another group includes Citibank, the Industrial Development Bank of India, Standard Chartered Bank and UTI Bank.

(See related stories Euronet in shared ATM network deal with 4 Indian banks and Indian ATM access grows with CashTree shared network)

In August, the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), a group established by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 1996, said it planned to set up a national switch to connect all of the country's 10,000-odd ATMs. (See related story India to get national ATM switch)