SBI in partnership with #ezetap has launched Chota ATM, which is also a PoS terminal operating from neighborhood Kirana shop. The Chota ATM’s Point of Sale terminal will be used for collecting electronic payments from any Debit or Credit card.
The solution is offered at a price point of Rs. 499 (as a non-refundable deposit) with a monthly fee of Rs. 150 – and a commission of Rs. 5 per cash-back transaction. Any legitimate business can open a zero balance current account with SBI and any Android or Windows phone or Tablet with a WiFi or data connection. For any Cash@POS transactions, the amount plus commission are settled the next day into the bank account of the merchant.
Cash@POS is a proven solution in other parts of the world – in the US for example, any grocery store lets you pay with your card and withdraw up to $100 then and there.
RBI today allows a daily limit of Rs. 1000 per cardholder – hopefully this limit will be raised to say Rs. 5000 as the concept has recently started getting good traction.
Cash@POS solves several problems for the eco-system:
1) Shopkeepers need a safe deposit for the cash they have – and today they hoard the money and eventually take it to a bank branch for depositing it into their account.
2) For the merchant, the same terminal also becomes a Point of Sale terminal to collect card-based payments – in future these could easily be extended to true mobile payments.
3) Banks need to circulate the money and securely transport it to an ATM machine. This adds a lot of security and operational costs to the banking ecosystem.
4) ATM machines are extremely expensive – CAPEX and OPEX – and this means fewer ATM machines.
5) A trip to the ATM machine is just that – but with the Chota ATM concept there is no longer a need for that. Consumers can just go to their neighborhood shop and purchase groceries and at the time of checkout, also “purchase” some cash. Or as you exit your taxi-cab, you could pay with your debit card and also withdraw cash.
6) Banks pay a commission to retailers – essentially making this an income-generating tool too!
Last but not least Cash@POS can be a driver for financial inclusion in the country. When people know they can walk to the neighborhood store and withdraw cash, more people will be comfortable keeping cash in the bank – and over time realize they could just as easily shop and pay directly from their bank account, whether with a debit card or their mobile phone or anything else.
From a merchant’s perspective, its cash they would lock up overnight – and instead in 24 hours it earned them a commission of 5 Rupees.
Chota ATM and Safety
The solution is 100% certified by all the required standards and global best practices – EMV, PCI-PTS, PCI-DSS which are standards in the Payments industry. This means that the card reader and the PIN entry are exactly on par and certified as per the same standards as any other ATM.
One can very well imagine ALL shops in India turning into Chota ATM points in the next year.
SBI earlier partnered with Ezetap to deploy 500,000 mPoS terminals.
Credit card company American Express (Amex) has purchased a minority stake in Bangalore based mobile payment solution company 
