HMA revisits ATM market with US-based Triton

NEW INDIAN EXPRESS

HMA has re-entered the ATM business in India with its group company CashLink Global Systems Pvt. Ltd forming an alliance with US-based Triton. The company had earlier exited the business in May 2003 in favour of US based diebold, with whom it had a partnership.

Speaking to newsmen in Chennai on Monday Harish K Murthi, Chairman & Managing Director, CashLink Global Systems, “the alliance with Triton will be for selling ATMs in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. We have decided to re-enter the business as there is a huge market for retail ATMs in the country. It is absolute rubbish to say the ATM story in India is over. The Triton ATMs are 40-50 per cent cheaper than conventional ATMs and easy to install and handle, he said.

Justifying his point Murthi said there are currently over 15,000 ATMs in the country. “Compare this with over 200,000 in the US and 70,000 in China. We still have a long way to go and the retail revolution is just beginning. The ATM in industry currently has a growth rate of 35 percent,” he said.

CashLink Global has formed a distributor arrangement with Triton, which has shipped over 120,000 ATMs to over 17 countries so far, said P P Manjunath Rao, Chief Operating Officer, CashLink Global Systems.

Rao said the company would be targeting banks and other third party financial service provides.

On being asked about the number of ATMs it plans to sell, Murthi maintained that the first year would be used to seed the concept. “At the end of three years we are looking at sales of over 3,000 machines,” he said.