The banking and monetary regulator Reserve Bank of India has expressed its concerns on lower penetration of Automated teller machines (ATM) and debit cards in the country.
"Although there has been a steady year-on-year 25 per cent growth in the number of ATMs in the country, their penetration as measured by the number of ATMs per million population is still very low when compared to other emerging markets," said Dr. D. Subbarao, RBI Governor.
The number of ATMs and point of sales (PoS) per million of population are among the lowest globally. Dr. Subbarao further added that the central bank has allowed 'White Label ATMs'by non-banks to operate and increase the reach particularly in Tier III to tier VI locations.
He also emphasized on differential merchant discount rate (MDR) for credit cards and debit cards, announcing differential MDR for debit cards.
Dr. Subbarao however appreciated the growth of mobile banking both in terms of value as well as volume of transaction. He further added, that compared with other emerging markets like Brazil, Russia and Mexico, India has very high value of currency circulation (12% of GDP).
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