Private sector lender, YES Bank, has reduced its ATM expansion target as white label ATMs will be set up across the country.

White label ATMs are those that are owned and operated by non-bank entities. The Reserve Bank of India had issued draft guidelines on setting up these ATMs in February.

Mr Rana Kapoor, Managing Director and CEO, YES Bank announced on Wednesday the bank's decision to reduce the ATM expansion target to 2,000 by 2015 from the 3,000 planned earlier. Currently, the bank has 605 ATMs.

“The operational costs on ATMs are over Rs 60,000 a month. The cost for 1,000 ATMs would be more than 150 branches,” Senior President (Financial Management), Mr Jaydeep Iyer, YES Bank, told Business Line .

“With the RBI permitting white label ATMs, our job becomes easier. We want to focus more on our core business,” said Mr Iyer.

The bank plans to expand its branch network to 900 from the current 356, concentrating on Tier I cities, especially in the South, and Tier II and III cities and towns in the North.

“We want to focus more on the NRI (Non-Resident Indians) customers….. their presence is greater in the South, especially Kerala,” he added.

YES Bank plans to enter the credit card business in 2014. For now, on the retail front, it is focussed on secured retail. The bank aims to expand more on the value proposition front with more retail products such as gold, personal loans and vehicle loans.

The bank also plans to open a foreign branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) to raise liabilities outside India.

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