BENGALURU: Namma Metro commuters will soon have more options to withdraw cash at stations as Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) on Saturday announced the signing of a licence agreement with State Bank of India, which will now place 66 automated teller machines across 38 stations in Phase 1. According to officials, currently each Metro station has only one ATM.
“BMRCL had called for tenders as the previous license agreement for installation of ATMs had expired. In this process, SBI has managed to secure the rights to install and operate ATMs at 38 out of the total 40 stations in Phase 1. This will mean multiple ATMs at several stations,” a senior BMRCL official said.
The agreement was signed between BMRCL Managing Director Mahendra Jain and Chief General Manager of SBI S M Farooque Shahab.
The ATMs are expected to be operational within a month. “The orders for the machines have already been placed and they should be up and running in a month’s time,” the official said. Commuters welcomed the move saying that it was tough to find ATMs near Metro stations when the ones present inside are non-functional.
“Having at least two ATMs inside the station would be of great help,” Trisha Chatterjee, a regular commuter, said.