Punjab National Bank on Wednesday announced a strategic alliance with Oriental Bank of Commerce, Indian Bank, UTI Bank and Global Trust Bank for sharing their ATMs spread across the country.

The memorandum of understanding was signed by the five banks here to create a network 'MITR.'

"The ATM cardholders of the five banks will now be able to draw cash and make balance enquiry on each others' ATMs. Some other banks are likely to join the network shortly," a PNB release said.

The MITR network has about 1,700 ATMs, which would go up to 3,000 spread across 140 cities by the end of this fiscal.

There are 3.5 million cardholders of the five banks. This number is expected to increase to 5 million by March 2004.

RBI's arm Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology is providing the dedicated network for connectivity of the MITR ATM network.

Chennai-based Financial Software & Systems has been appointed as the application service provider.