HMA has re-entered the ATM business in India with its group company CashLink Global Systems Pvt. Ltd forming an alliance with US-based Triton. The company had earlier exited the business in May 2003 in favour of US based diebold, with whom it had a partnership.

Speaking to newsmen in Chennai on Monday Harish K Murthi, Chairman & Managing Director, CashLink Global Systems, “the alliance with Triton will be for selling ATMs in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. We have decided to re-enter the business as there is a huge market for retail ATMs in the country. It is absolute rubbish to say the ATM story in India is over. The Triton ATMs are 40-50 per cent cheaper than conventional ATMs and easy to install and handle, he said.

Justifying his point Murthi said there are currently over 15,000 ATMs in the country. “Compare this with over 200,000 in the US and 70,000 in China. We still have a long way to go and the retail revolution is just beginning. The ATM in industry currently has a growth rate of 35 percent,” he said.

CashLink Global has formed a distributor arrangement with Triton, which has shipped over 120,000 ATMs to over 17 countries so far, said P P Manjunath Rao, Chief Operating Officer, CashLink Global Systems.

Rao said the company would be targeting banks and other third party financial service provides.

On being asked about the number of ATMs it plans to sell, Murthi maintained that the first year would be used to seed the concept. “At the end of three years we are looking at sales of over 3,000 machines,” he said.

CashLink Enter ATM Market again: CashLink Global Systems Private Limited has entered into a partnership with US-based Triton, one of the largest manufactures of ATMs and software developers for retail banking, for reselling their products and services in the country.

The association with Triton through marketing of their ATMs and cash dispensers would enable CashLink to make a determined foray into the vending of banking products and solutions with the focus of its parent company HMA which caters to the automation of banking industry. HMA group has a record of being a reliable value added reseller and a volume player in automation products for retail banking since 1988.

"Triton self-service terminals that we have undertaken to sell and service in the India will provide ATM industry its very own machines that are designed to be the most suited for out conditions and cost expectations with highest reliability and security", said P. P. Manjunath Rao, Chief Operating Officer, CashLink at a press meet yesterday.

As the world’s fourth largest manufactures of ATMs Triton has shipped over 120,000 products to over 17 countries last year. The US firm is an operating company of Dover Electronics Inc, a subsidiary of $5 billion Dover corporation. The Prism software of Triton along with its XP platform for ATMs are designed for the traditional banking industry with low-cost features as an alternative to other expensive ATM installations.

"The entry of Triton in India is at the right moment as banking are looking for alternatives to their existing ATMs that involve higher cost of upgradation, having to comply with expensive security and regulations. Triton ATMs, cash dispensers and smart card applications offer low-cost alternative with rich features for better return on investments", said Manjunath. The Indian ATM market is growing at a rate of 35 per cent per annum with addition of around 4,000 machines and in the first three years, CashLink has targeted to sell 3,000 machines.

Besides offering after-sales services to customers through systems engineers and field staff at its 42 offices across the country, CashLink is expecting more business from the third party service providers for Triton’s products. The company is reentering into ATM business after it had exited in 2003, in the hope of leveraging its expertise in retailing banking solutions with Triton’s technology base in design and development of ATMs and other automated solutions for banking and financial institutions.