“We are looking at revenue streams beyond white-label ATMs,” said K Srinivas, managing director and CEO of India1 Payments. “Besides providing switching services to smaller banks to connect their ATM network, we are also working as a digital loan facilitator by connecting our 54 million customers who are already on our digital platform to potential lenders,” he added.
India1 Payments, in which ICICI Ventures has about 49% stake, is promoted by Australia’s Banktech group. The company plans to leverage its customer base using its white-label ATM platform by being an account aggregator and connecting those interested in small-ticket loans with the potential lender. This could earn the company a fee-based income for the concluded transactions.
The company will also continue to expand its mainstream business of providing white-label ATMs in semi-urban and rural areas where it is already having a strong presence and increase its ATM network and expand its regional spread.
India1 Payments currently manages 12,200 white-label ATMs throughout the country and plans to double the count by rolling out another 12,000 more ATMs over the next five years.
The company has a significant presence in Tamil Nadu and is looking at strengthening its presence in other states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where ATM penetration is low, Srinivas said.Even post-Covid, despite a sharp surge in digital transactions, cash transactions continue to grow.“Two-thirds of the country’s consumption expenditure still happens in cash,” he said.
In addition, the company is also looking at providing switching services to ATM networks of smaller banks that may not have in-house capabilities for the purpose. The company has built its own switch to manage its network of 12,200 ATMs.
“We could provide these services to smaller banks like regional rural banks and small finance banks who could need switching services to connect a smaller number of ATMs who might have the expertise of their own to build their own switch,” Srinivas said.