SBI To Bring In Talking ATMs To Help Visually-Impaired

NCR Corporation will upgrade over 2,500 SBI ATMs to Voice-Guided ATMs across India to help the visually-impaired as well as differently-abled.

 

Thursday, October 04, 2012:  The State Bank of India (SBI) in response to RBI’s objective of providing financial accessibility to every citizen in India irrespective of his or her disability has announced that it will be upgrading over 2,500 ATMs across India to help the visually-impaired. NCR Corporation, one of India’s largest ATM service provider, will transform over 2,500 SBI ATMs to Voice-Guided ATMs, which will allow access to its ATMs not only to visually-impaired people, but also to people with physical disabilities through ramps for wheel chair access.

SBI’s first ATM for the visually impaired was showcased today at Antarchakshu, a sensitisation workshop, organised by Xavier's Research Centre for the Visually Challenged (XRCVC) at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

NCR’s "Talking ATMs" are incorporated with unique software and hardware features which ensures that a person with a disability can operate the machine on their own, while maintaining the safety of the transaction. These ATM machines are designed as per Access for All (AFA) standards and comprises accessible keypads, voice-guidance technology, braille stickers and multi-lingual capability.

Apart from reading aloud screen messages, the machine also provides complete orientation making it easy for the customer to use the machine. An important security feature of this ATM is that it provides a person with an option to blank out the screen as a safety mechanism to avoid shoulder surfing by any by-stander trying to access customer data during the transaction. 

 

The NCR "Talking ATM" uses a text-to-speech engine which allows voicing out the text on the screen in multiple languages for consumer convenience. Instead to issuing "Special Cards" for the customers with disabilities, since it can become difficult to maintain track of whether the correct card has been issued, SBI has chosen to make its existing ATM network AFA-compliant by simply customising their existing ATM software stack and upgrading the hardware configuration of its ATM fleet.

  

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