Want to know the latest score in the India-Kenya ICC cricket World Cup semi-finals on Thursday?
Just walk to the nearest ATM.
Want to know about the latest movies in the town?
Drop by the ATM, again.
These are among the services that IDBI Bank is now offering in Mumbai under its 'ATM Next' project.
The services will be launched in the next one month in a phase manner across the country.
The other services that will be offered include the latest news, horoscope, emergency telephone numbers etc.
"These services are not card activated. One does not have to be an IDBI Bank customer to avail of these services," said IDBI Bank's country head retail banking Ajay Bimbhet, adding: "The content on the ATMs can be changed frequently.
"It can also be localised to a specific ATM in a particular city. All the ATMs will also be fully audio-enabled. The audio can also be tuned to the regional languages."
"The bank has tied up with rediff.com for content and NCR for technology.
"Says IDBI Bank's head ATMs, card and merchant acquiring Shameek Bhargava: "The ATM will connect with two hosts -- one web server and an ATM switch. This is happening probably for the first time in the world that an ATM is speaking to two hosts. Going forward, the ATMs can also be made customer specific."
During the time lag when a transaction is happening, the customer can now be wished on his birthday or can also be alerted that his fixed deposit is coming up for renewal.
Also, as and when the theaters go online, customers can also book the movie tickets from the ATMs.
Bimbhet added that the bank has the flexibility to change the screen centrally and can therefore change the content say to an hockey match etc.
The bank has in recent times been concentrating on its retail portfolio due to the problems in raising capital. The capital adequacy ratio of the bank has been hovering for around 9 per cent for quite some time.
According to IDBI Bank's managing director and CEO Gunit Chadha, the retail portfolio has now crossed 25 per cent of the total portfolio and will touch 30 per cent by March-end. The total retail assets of the bank are at around Rs 1500 crore (Rs 15 billion) of which its home loan portfolio is at Rs 1,040 crore (Rs 10.4 billion).
