More PoS Terminals!! State Bank of India (SBI) will install 10 lakh payment card swipe machines (point of sales, or PoS, terminals) across the country, which will double the number of places where card payment is accepted.

The bank is also launching a huge campaign to promote cash withdrawal of up to Rs 1,000 at these PoS terminals, which will reduce pressure on automated teller machines (ATMs). The bank has asked RBI to allow withdrawals of up to Rs 5,000.

 Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairman, SBI, said the bank wants to migrate customers from ATMs to PoS machines.That means, instead of taking out cash, people should be comfortable with just swiping their cards for any purchase. We are addressing customer concerns by allowing them to set a limit on daily spends and having instant alerts on every transaction. We are also assuring customers that as long as they have not parted with the password, we are making sure that they do not lose money.

For the bank, cash-at-PoS is much cheaper than ATM withdrawal as the bank does not have to deploy cash, hire space or employ security guards.” For the merchants, besides taking care of cash management, the cash-at-PoS system will enable them to earn Rs 5 for every transaction. SBI has targeted deploying two lakh machines in the next nine months and most of the remaining in the year after.

Of the 11 lakh PoS terminals in the country, 2.17 lakh are installed by SBI. While the bank has accounted for almost half of the new deployments in FY15, its PoS terminal base has not kept pace with its card network. The country’s largest bank has 11.7 crore active debit card holders, of which 3.36 crore have been added under the Prime Minister’s Jan-Dhan Yojana.