A high demand for banknotes still exists in India, according to Marcus Tiedt, sales and marketing director at Innovative Technology (ITL).
India’s Government demonetised all 500 and 1,000-rupee notes four years ago. However, the Global Cash Index says that cash continues to hold a significant role in Indian culture and is seeing growth rather than decline.
“Cash is still very much king in the region,” said Tiedt. “With over a billion people living in India, a large percentage of them still transact in cash and are not part of the official tax network. Also, the infrastructure required to go cashless needs years to catch up and be reliable and therefore a cashless society is not currently achievable in the short term.”
Working closely with Chevend, the ITL trading partner in the region, the UK company is meeting market and consumer demand to ensure that cash can be used as the preferred method of payment, both securely and efficiently.
Andy Bassam, vice-president of customer support for ITL said: “We foresee that our latest products with the added benefit of Spectral technology, will begin to see more demand. We work hard with Ammaar, who heads up our partnership at Chevend, to ensure that we optimise datasets and acceptance rates on our products. The National Bank release banknotes on a yearly basis and notes in circulation can wear quickly, so keeping datasets up to date is imperative. Another major challenge in India is that the banks do not allow customers to redeem damaged and stained banknotes. This issue can be overcome by using ITL products that utilise our Spectral technology to ensure machines do not accept banknotes that have been damaged or stained by anti-theft devices.”
