In proportional terms, India has one of the lowest numbers of ATMs and PoS terminals – just 63 ATMs and 497 PoS per million population. Only a small fraction of the 10 million plus retailers in India have card payment acceptance infrastructure. Though the usage of mobile banking and internet banking is growing, a significant percentage of customer base is not covered. 44.
Expanding the acceptance infrastructure such as ATMs, PoS terminals, microATMs, handheld devices etc. into smaller towns and villages is very much required to give an impetus to electronic payments. The recent policy initiative on white labeled ATMs is expected to go a long way in increasing the acceptance network. 45. Developing and expanding payment infrastructure, as we all know, has associated upfront costs.