Union Bank of India?s 4000th ATM, to be opened on Wednesday in Ahmedabad, will be unique as it would be disabled-friendly, an official at the bank said.
These ?talking ATM? would provide services such as withdrawal, balance inquiry and mini-statement and would be accessible to persons with disability by providing ramps so that wheel chair users can access them, Lalit Sinha, GM, alternate delivery channels & new initiative department, Union Bank of India, said.
The bank is expecting to roll out more such ATM after a two-month pilot study and customising it for local needs.
As per the Reserve Bank of India guidelines, a third of new ATMs opened by banks need to be such talking ATMs with Braille keypads and should be placed strategically in consultation with peer banks to ensure that at least one such ATM with Braille keypad is generally available in each locality for catering to needs of visually impaired persons.
Since the guidelines came in 2009, banks such as State Bank of India and ICICI Bank have launched pilot ATMs in various places, however, most other banks are yet to roll-out fully functional ATMs because of the technical problem associated with it.
?The voice-guidance software provided by these technology companies are very difficult to be customised for the Indian public. Only few companies offer bilingual voice-guidance,? said Sinha. He added that Union Bank?s talking ATM would support the cards of other banks as well.