The largest public sector lender, State Bank of India, is leading in expansion of ATMs in non-metro and semi-urban centres, an Assocham analysis of RBI data shows.
While SBI has 5,783 automated teller machines (ATMs) in metro cities, the cash dispensing machines in urban centres other than metros and in semi-urban areas are 7,511 and 6,419, respectively . Even in the rural areas, the bank has 2,756 ATMs.
Following SBI is another public sector lender, Punjab National Bank, which has a larger number of ATMs in the non-metro cities than in the metros, as per the latest RBI data.
Private sector banks, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC still have “bias and preference” for ATMs in metro cities, followed by tier-II cities, the Assocham study released here on Wednesday reveals.
Among the private banks, Axis Bank had the largest ATM network in July 2012, followed by HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.
“The Finance Ministry is rightly very keen of achieving financial inclusion of a large number of people in rural areas.
“This can best be achieved by leveraging of technology and use of mobile telephony and ATMs,” Assocham Secretary-General, D. S. Rawat, said.