In a first for any domestic bank, small-sized lender DCB Bank has started an Aadhaar-based ATM usage facility wherein a customer can transact using his biometric details instead of the PIN.

• The user can key-in the 12-digit Aadhaar number or swipe the card at an automated teller machine (ATM) to start a transaction, but at the stage of confirming the identity, it requires biometric details rather than the PIN.
• Seeding the bank account with the Aadhaar number will be essential before a customer can use the facility.
• The solution has been developed in-house and involves connecting up with the Aadhaar server to authenticate the identity of the customer every time a transaction is initiated.
• The first of the Aadhaar-based ATMs has been installed at its corporate office in the megapolis’ Lower Parel area and Natrajan said it will be waiting for a month more for the technology to stabilise before a mass rollout.

Enrolments under Aadhaar are set to cross the 100 crore mark soon. The data is being used for a slew of purposes like opening bank accounts and the government’s direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme.

Did You Know?

• DCB Bank Ltd. is a private sector scheduled commercial bank in India. It has a network of 176 branches and over 400 ATMs in the country.
• It offers products to individuals, small and medium businesses, rural banking and mid corporates across its branch network.
• Founded in the 1930s, in Mumbai from a series of Co-operative bank mergers with the Ismailia Co-operative Bank Limited and the Masalawala Co-operative Bank respectively.
• These 2 banks later merged to form Development Co-operative Bank, that changed to Development Credit Bank after it was granted the scheduled bank license by the Reserve Bank of India in May 1995.
• Development Credit Bank Ltd. went on to successfully offer shares to the public by an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2006.
• DCB Bank Limited is the new name of the Bank, changed with due regulatory approval in January 2014.