The Bank, with the help of technology partners, is in the process of developing an ATM which may cost less than Rs 1 lakh as against the conventional cost of Rs 6 to 7 lakh for an ATM to cater to the villages in the country, ICICI Bank CEO K V Kamath said.
ICICI Bank undertook the effort since branch-based banking cannot be applied in rural India, he said. The newly designed ATMs will likely be rolled out in six months to a year's time, Kamath said.
''We have to take ATMs into villages which could handle soil cash and act as cash dispensing machines.''
The Bank is also developing smart cards, which would act as one stop shop of all financial information about an individual, he said. As part of its e-governance initiative, ICICI Bank has also undertaken a pilot project at Guntoor in Andhra Pradesh.
The effort is to develop a village delivery model taking into account micro-credit initiatives, corporations and self-help groups together, he said.
''The e-governance initiative will subsequently be adopted in 600 districts across the country in six months to a year's time,'' he said.
Kamath said the Bank is exploring opportunities in the e-governance front and has undertaken initiatives to speed up the transaction process through faster transfer of funds to the district level and payment of user charges.
ICICI Bank is also talking to National Informatics Centre for developing e-bidding for tendering through a transparent manner, he said. ''Efforts are on make all tax payments online to avoid delay,'' he said.
As against the earlier level of five per cent, Internet transactions have risen to 15 per cent of the total transactions of the Bank in the recent times, he added.