Over 50,000 of the 1.62 lakh automated teller machines in India are likely to be secured through remote CCTV surveillance without round-the-clock physical security. Several banks have floated tenders for offsite surveillance and are looking at it as a more cost-effective method of safety at ATMs. However, non-availability of bandwidth is proving to be a major challenge. The decision to go for offsite monitoring is driven primarily by cost. The system triggers alarms at the control room when there are too many people in the room or if the machine is tampered. It also allows two-way communication from the command centre. As against this, having round-the-clock security could cost banks almost three times as much.
