The joint venture will be exclusively for manufacture of low-cost ATMs (automated teller machines) to cater to the domestic market, Anthony R Grandidge, vice-president, NCR Asia Pacific Pte said. The FI will not be directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the firm and its investment will be more on the lines of venture capital, according to Loney Antony, country manager and director (financial solutions group) of NCR Corporation India.

However, it was too early to say whether NCR would partner with just one company or more than one, he added. The partnership would give the company a larger reach and channel infrastructure required to penetrate rural markets, apart from local expertise. NCR leastpriced ATM costs around Rs 5 lakh. It has also developed a data warehousing solution in association with one of its software partners, Opus Technologies.

Antony declined to comment whether Opus or any of its other partners would be involved in the joint venture. Apart from Opus, the company has five other partners - Datamatics, Infosys, Wipro, Satyam and Future Software. The new company and the plant would be set up only when volumes picked up and reached around 5,000 ATMs per annum, he said.

The company recently established a manufacturing facility in China, in partnership with a local firm, from where it services Taiwan, Hong Kong and the surrounding countries. China has an installed base of 5,000 ATMs, while the installed base in India is expected to touch 1,000 only by 1999 end. It also has a manufacturing unit in Canada to cater to the US market and the largest one in Scotland for the European market. In India, it plans to set up the new company only when volumes pick up to around 5,000 ATMs. Theinstalled base of ATMs in the country will touch 1,000 ATMs by 1999 end.

Expectations are that India would reach 5,000 ATMs in three years but the target could be achieved much earlier if nationalised banks start installing ATMs at a faster pace. One of the NCR's clients -- believed to be State Bank of India -- itself has targeted over 2,000 ATMs in the next two years, according to Grandidge. Apart from State Bank, new private banks -- ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and UTI Bank -- are getting more aggressive in increasing their installed base of ATMs.

NCR currently offers ATM interface in 5 regional languages and will increase it to 15 by the end of the year, Antony said addressing a press conference before its roadshow here. It has a 60 per cent market share in the ATM market. The products being show cased at the road show includes web ATM and cheque processing systems.