STRATEGIC PARTNERS
February 27, 2002
MUMBAI, India -- NCR Corporation is exploring the possibility of setting up a production base in India, according to a report in the India Times.
"It is only logical for us to look at a local manufacturing base. As the market continues to grow, we are seriously considering a production base in India," said Howard Lance, president and chief operating officer of NCR's Retail and Financial Group.
A facility in India would be NCR's fourth production facility. It already has production bases in the U.S., Europe and China. Two years ago NCR opened a facility in China, which has an installed base of 52,000 ATMs, to meet the burgeoning demand for ATMs from the country's state-run banks.
India's installed ATM base, at 4,500, is less than a tenth that of China's but it is growing at a rate of over 100 percent year-on-year. NCR has a 55 percent share of this market, according to the Times report.
India has nearly 380 million bank account holders and with just 4,500 ATMs, the number of ATMs per million people, at 11, is one of the lowest in the world.
"A base of 100,000 ATMs would seem a more realistic figure for a market as big as India," said Lance, who visited Mumbai to inaugurate the NCR Management Center.
Assuming the Indian ATM market continues to grow at its current rate, it would take at least another five years for the country's ATM base to touch the 100,000 mark.
