Banking on security

What is the lifeblood of the economy, the single factor that also continues to pose one of the biggest security threats?

The answer is money, or cash. This has historically been the ultimate objective of all acquisitive crime. The rapid proliferation of the banking network, and the growing spread of ATMs is, in that sense, every thief's dream come true.

Till recently, banks would transport cash to branches in a regular van sans armed escorts. Little wonder that last year alone there were over 25 reported cases of attacks on cash vans, bank branches and ATMs.

Since banks do not publish such data, it is difficult to estimate the amount lost annually to criminal ingenuity. (But a 2003 incident where the Madavara branch of the State Bank of Mysore lost Rs 17.3 lakh when six men hijacked its cash van, and the Rs 2 crore heist, in 2001, of a delivery en route from the Reserve Bank of India to an ICICI branch, could be indicative enough.)

Technology is increasingly providing the solutions, though. Banks now increasingly outsource their cash management and transportation functions to specialists "" and CIT (cash in transit) has become an emerging red-hot business.

CIT, in common parlance, means the transportation and management of cash/valuables. It involves secured transportation of valuables like cash, bank instruments, jewellery and bullion; currency counting, counterfeit verification, processing and secured vaulting.

Introduced in India by Brinks Arya, the bullion cargo-handling agency, around 1995-96, the market for CIT services is estimated to be Rs 300-400 crore and growing at 35 per cent annually.

One of the dominant players in this segment is Security and Intelligence Services (SIS), India's only security firm certified by International Professional Security Association. Servicing big names such as the State Bank Of India, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and ICICI Bank, SIS offers the complete spectrum of CIT services barring vaulting.

Banks and more...
Banks are not the only ones queuing up for CIT services. At first thought, gas stations seem an unlikely client. But consider the cash these stations collect hour after hour. Savvy owners are now increasingly signing up with security agencies. CIT providers collect the cash and securely transport it to their vaults where, after sorting, it is held overnight before being transferred to the banks.

Says Rituraj Sinha, president - business operations, SIS India, "With the boom in retail, the demand for CIT services will grow manifold." Handing cash management over to professionals has another benefit: it also increases efficiency and productivity.

Instead of the traditional system in which managers spend an average of one to two hours per day counting money, looking out for counterfeits, reconciling differences and making the run for the bank, they can now use this time to make sales, train employees or provide better customer service. All this adds up to more profits.

Beyond transportation
Over the last 10 years CIT firms have developed comprehensive capabilities to extend end-to-end solutions.

Take, for instance, ATM management, which includes assessing cash requirements, loading ATM cassettes, taking care of first-line-maintenance calls and more. With 30,000 ATMs in the country, and counting, this service is going to be in great demand in the near future.

As things stand, criminals need not worry...yet. With a number of banks yet to avail of organised CIT services, the chance to "cash in" is not exactly akin to playing Russian roulette.