The ATM network in India is seeing a huge rise, says ATM manufacturer NCR. The company expects India to become one of its biggest target markets by 2015 when the ATM network of banks is expected to reach 1,75,000.

The company is working on increasing productivity of its Puducherry unit so as to meet both domestic and international demands.

Speaking on the issue, NCR Corporation India managing director Jalvinder Gill said: "In any developed country, there are close to 600-700 ATMs per million population. In India, there are only 51 ATMs per million. By 2015, this number will move to 1.75-lakh ATMs, which means that we will be adding close to double the number of installed ATMs in the next couple of years."

The current ATM network of India is close to 64,000. The potential of growth in India is quite large as the market is an emerging one with many banks only beginning to spread their ATM network. One of the largest orders was received by NCR last year from the largest lender of the country, State Bank of India, which presented an order for 3,800 ATMs.

"Besides the large banks, we also see the demand from co-operative banks and regional rural banks as the focus shifts to extending services to smaller towns," said Mr Gill.

"It is now in the interest of banks to deploy more ATMs because now there is a concern among banks that if I do not have enough machines, my customer will go to another bank and I will have to pay charges to that bank. Now their strategy is more to expand and retain their customers," said Mr Gill.