Bank / Credit Union
India's Karnataka wants Kannada language an option on ATMs
January 7, 2021
India's Kannada Development Authority Chairman, TS Nagabharana, is working hard to get the Kannada language as an option on ATMs in India. The language is particularly needed in rural areas where a majority of people who are still dependent on ATM kiosks for transactions and are not well-versed in English or Hindi, according to a report in India Today.
Nagabharana told anews media outletthat the past few decades, despite repeated requests, there has been no distinct response by the Karnataka government to add additional language options to the ATMs.
According to Reserve Bank of India data, Karnataka has 17,776 ATMs, of which 9,931 belong to public sector banks and 6,398 are owned by private sector ones. There are also 1,108 white label ATMs that are run by non-banking private entities. Only 40% of these ATMs have language options that include Kannada.
