US ATM giant Diebold cashes in on Indians’ demonetisation woes
1 Dec 2016 10:07 PM GMT
Global leader in ATM and PoS machines Diebold Nixdorf expects its business to boom with the push for a cashless economy amid the ongoing demonetisation drive. The company, which has just completed integration following the buyout of Nixdorf, now manages a little over 1,05,000 ATMs out of the total 2,04,000 and close to 28,000 PoS machines in the country.
It claimed on Wednesday that it is the first to complete recalibration of cash-vending machines and dispense the new banknotes after announcement of the ban of high-value currencies on November 8. Jaivinder Singh Gill, VP and MD, South Asia and head of operations, Asia Pacific, Diebold Nixdorf, said on Wednesday that the US-based company employed over 800 engineers to achieve this.
On the impact of his business due to demonetisation and the push for a cashless economy, he said, “We expect PoS business to grow much faster in the medium term and the removal of all taxes (12.5% excise duty and 4% SAD last week on PoS machines) will give an additional fillip to this. ATM business will also continue to grow, especially the software and security side of this market.”
Explaining further, he said the company sees a parallel growth in both cash and non-cash economy and expects ATMs getting continued focus while ePoS market in the retail segment may see faster growth with tax waiver and official push to go electronic. According to him, Diebold Nixdorf is the largest ATM manufacturer globally also with 33 per cent market share while before the buyout, it was the second.
“When it comes to the domestic market, Diebold Nixdorf is also the largest ATM player with a market share of 49 per cent with over 1,05,000 ATMs. We also have over 28,000 PoS units installed for major retailers in India,” Gill said. There are over 1.4 million PoS machines deployed in the market.
Asked whether the company will set up a plant in India to manufacture PoS units which are currently imported, Gill did not offer an answer. With over 25 years in India, Diebold has an ATM plant and an R&D centre in Goa with an annual volume of 1 lakh machines, a client base of over 100 banks and presence in more than 4,000 cities and towns.
It also has global software development centre in Mumbai and managed services facility in Mumbai and Hyderabad. Its rival NCR Corp has been pushed down to the second slot with a little over 1 lakh cash dispensers in India.
Bank unions demand adequate notes for people’s cash needs
As bank staff faces the wrath of fatigued customers amid continuing cash shortages following the scrapping of high value currency, bank unions have demanded that the Reserve Bank increase the supply of notes to meet increasing demand for money.
There are rumours that branches are hoarding cash but it is far from the truth as cash received by banks is being passed on to the customers, RSS backed National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) said in a statement.
“We should understand that banks are not printing the notes but whatever is provided by the RBI they are doing their best to facilitate the public,” NOBW Vice President Ashwani Rana said.
Expressing dismay over comments of politicians on bankers, he said they should refrain from provoking the public against bankers by issuing irresponsible statements.
The Centre from November 9 scrapped high value 500 and 1000 rupee notes to crack down on black money, leading to unending queues at banks and ATMs across the country.
According to the All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA), the next one week to 10 days are going to be much more tense because huge number of employees, workers and retirees/pensioners would throng the branches to draw their salary. If RBI fails to provide adequate cash, it may lead to serious issues of law and order, it said in a letter written to the central bank.
Besides, majority of the ATMs are non-functional which will add to the congestion inside the branches, it said.
AIBEA also said that RBI is issuing umpteen number of instructions every day and bank staff is unable to cope with these instructions instantly until they are duly intimated about it from their respective Head Offices.
At times, these RBI instructions create more problems than solutions, it added. It also said that ‘No Cash’ board outside branches is leading to erosion of reputation of banks.
“We are afraid, there would be lot of undue pressures, tensions, conflicts and clashes in the branches and we seek the intervention of IBA to advice the Banks to ask for proper police protection in branches to provide proper security to the staff,” it said.
Next Story
