Card-free ATM cash withdrawal coming soon to India

Bankcard holders in India might soon be able to leave that card at home and, instead, withdraw cash from an ATM with their mobile phone. 

According to a report by Times of India, AGS transaction technologies, an ATM service provider, has developed a QR code-driven solution that uses India's Universal Payments Interface platform. Availability of the service is pending approval from the National Payments Corporation of India, which controls not only the nation's ATM switch, but also its UPI platform. 

To use the service, cardholders simply download a mobile app equipped with UPI capabilities. Then, as they would do with other types of QR code transactions through a UPI client, the ATM user scans the code on the ATM screen to trigger the transfer of money from his or her account to the bank operating the ATM, which then dispenses the cash.

Banks will be able to deploy the service with a simple software upgrade to their ATMs; no major investment or infrastructure change is required.