More than 7 years after demonetisation, ATMs are back in spotlight

Demand for cash has increased as e-commerce, retail firms expand. Cash-on-delivery accounts for more than 60% of e-commerce payments

State Bank of India (SBI) has floated a request for proposal for 16,000 automated teller machines (ATMs), the largest such by a bank in the country. Plus, another 17,500 for outsourcing. Keeping SBI company on this front are Bank of Baroda (7,400) and Punjab National Bank (3,500). Taken together, fresh orders for ATMs over the last six months total 44,500, or nearly six-fold of what was placed in the preceding period. “While about 20,000 are replacements for ageing ATMs, it’s still a bonanza,” says Stanley Johnson, executive director, AGS Transact Technologies, which manufactures ATMs. Why so? "Because the installed ATM