HDFC Bank is planning to give its merchant acquiring business a big push. It has already set up around 40,000 electronic data capturing terminals across the country.
The bank plans to install another 25,000 EDC by the end of this fiscal. The EDC terminals transfer merchandise data to the computer so that it can be processed electronically.
Over the last two to three years, private banks such as ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, UTI Bank have entered the field. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank are the largest players in this segment and have around 40,000 terminals and 25,000 terminals, respectively.
IDBI Bank has around 4,000 EDC machines installed in top 14 cities of the country. In the current fiscal, the bank plans to install around 10,000 terminals in select cities, said a senior official from the bank. UTI Bank has around 5,000 machines across the country.
HDFC Bank is looking at setting up terminals in all the 174 towns and cities where it has its branches. The bank plans to expand its network in Tier I and Tier II centres and the business mix would be 65:35, respectively, said a senior official from HDFC Bank.
The bank will continue to install these machines at shopping centres and restaurants. It's the game of numbers and the bank is betting on volumes to make money in this business. It has been able to buy machines from vendors at around Rs 15,000 a machine, he added.
The bank is also in talks with vendors to install EDC machines with upgraded software to push usage of the card and secure the transaction, said the official.
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