The Hindu has a great interview with NCR’s P. P. Manjunath Rao, who leads that company’s sales efforts for India. Recently the Indian subsidiary of NCR tripled its production of ATMs to nearly 900 units a day - and with just 28 ATMs per million people (compared to 200 ATMs per million in Mexico, for example) it would seem that there’s room to run for ATM providers. Rao tells the Hindu:

Using thumbprint and voice guidance in ATMs reduces literacy requirements to a considerable extent. Thus, establishing the identity of a rural depositor through biometrics makes it possible for illiterate or barely literate people to become part of the banking user community.

A simplified menu on ATMs coupled with possible audio guidance in local language enables easy use for rural masses. So far, bank ATMs are dependent on PIN (personal identification number) verification. The fingerprint authentication method is non-PIN based, and this requires enhancements to the standard switch environment. Though identification can be via face, voice, retina or iris, fingerprinting has the advantage of being a familiar concept worldwide.

Though exciting, widespread deployment will be a challenge. How to handle cash - what about banking agents? What is required for customer adoption? With lower levels of functional literacy, what about financial literacy? These are questions we at CGAP are working on with our research collaboration with Microsoft Research India, as well as our project partners.